The Things We Do
by Amnestyyy
Summary: After having lost Commander Shepard, Liara mourned her. Deep down, however, there was the glimmer of hope that she'd return, some day. Now that day is closing in fast, and Liara will stop at nothing to make sure she won't lose her Shepard again. Post-ME2. FemShepxLiara. M for later chapters.
1. Good Old Times

**Hello one and all! Welcome to the first chapter of my Mass Effect story, written in exemplar American English, because my beta wouldn't allow my Britishisms. Before we start this thing off, I'd like to clarify a few things, so that you all know what you're getting yourself into before you start reading!**

 **This story will start at the beginning of Mass Effect 2, heavily featuring FemShep/Liara romance. Because that's the only way to go, of course. If you know my from my Frozen fan fictions, you know I only write lesbian romance, and that's not going to change in this story – just so you know.**

 **Also, this story will be assuming many of the choices I take during my playthroughs of Mass Effect games, and I'm a big paragon-whore. Just so you know: My Shepard isn't a bitch, and is generally a good person. She might occasionally headbutt a krogan, though!**

 **This story is beta'd by a good friend of mine, who doesn't like Britishisms: t3l4m0n. He's been a large part in the conception of this story, as well as brainstorming with me for ideas, and reading my chapters in advance, notifying me of typos, lore-errors and stuff that could be improved on in general. Without him, this story wouldn't exist.**

 **I don't own Mass Effect or its characters. I do not make any profit with this story, and no copyright infringement is intended. Bioware rocks, and I'm grateful for the awesome trilogy they delivered. I'm very fond of reviews, but won't ask for them. I'd just like you to leave one if you think I've deserved it! I'll also try to keep author's note to a minimum throughout the story, though I might occasionally leave a short message for you lovely folks.**

 **Also, since this is my first fic in this fandom, here's a short little introductory thingy. My name's Caitlyn-Elizabeth (yes, that's my first name), I'm a woman in my twenties, lesbian, and so far I mostly wrote fics for Frozen - if you think it's something you might like, be sure to check it out! :)**

 **And that's all, enjoy the read!**

* * *

There was a smile on Liara's face as she turned her chair around and let her gaze wander over the Illium skyline. Her eyes roamed around, following the movement of the skycars zipping by without really seeing them. Anyone knowing her well enough would recognize the glassy look in her eyes as one of deep thought, and her smile as wistful, rather than joyful.

Then again, no one who really knew Liara was still around. Hadn't been for some time. Calling her a private person would have been an understatement, she thought to herself. Only five people had ever gotten to know her, in varying degrees.

Three of them were now off to far-away worlds. Two of them were dead.

The past few years had been rough. During their struggle against Saren and Sovereign, everything had fallen to pieces. Liara had made new friends, even found love, aboard the Normandy. But the cost had been… high, to say the least.

Liara's new friends had been forced to travel to Noveria, where they'd found Matriarch Benezia – Liara's mother – who had been indoctrinated by the Reapers. Despite their attempts to convince her to see reason, they'd been forced to watch her take her life. And then there had only been four people left that knew Liara well.

But, in the end, justice had prevailed, and both Saren and Sovereign had been killed. The cost had been high – too high – but they'd done it. The Alliance's reaction? Sending them out into the Terminus Systems to hunt for more geth. It had seemed such a waste of their time and skill.

And then _they_ had attacked. Who- or whatever _they_ were, Liara still didn't know. Their weapons had torn through the Normandy like a knife cuts through butter. They never stood a chance. Most of the crew aboard the ship had managed to reach the escape pods. But those that didn't mattered a whole lot more.

Commander Shepard. The most exceptional human Liara had ever met – the entire galaxy had ever met – had sacrificed herself to save one of her crew. Liara watched as she got vented into space, tears in her eyes and her cries drowning out the voices of the others in the pod.

Shepard had been the only one in the galaxy that remained of Liara's loved ones. Their relationship had been short – their mission against Sovereign had kept them occupied, after all – but that did nothing to lessen the sting of anguish she felt as she watched her take her final breaths.

When they had all gotten to safety, the Alliance and the Council had apparently decided that their work over the past months had been their simple duties. Without their leader, the crew of the Normandy scattered like leaves in the wind, and neither the Council, nor the Alliance did anything to prevent it.

The three persons she could call friends were now spread throughout the galaxy. Tali'Zorah had returned to the Migrant Fleet, finishing her Pilgrimage and becoming a full member of the Quarian fleet. Liara was happy for her, although she was saddened by the fact she'd probably not see her again. Quarians weren't well-known for moving outside their fleet once their Pilgrimage was done.

Urdnot Wrex had returned to his homeplanet, Tuchanka, where he was apparently trying to do the impossible: uniting the krogan clans under one banner and ending the everlasting in-fighting between them. Liara would wish him luck if she could have reached him, even though there was a reasonable chance Wrex wouldn't live long enough to receive the message.

Garrus Vakarian had disappeared for a while, and no one seemed to know where he went off to. Some said he had returned to his home planet as well, Palaven. Others said that he had returned to C-Sec at the Citadel – but at least Liara knew _that_ wasn't true. It had been some time before she had caught any intel on his actual whereabouts, though.

And thus, her three best friends were spread out as far as they could possibly be, with no way for Liara to contact them. She had traveled to Thessia, taking care of her mother's personal belongings, before turning her attention onto more important matters.

She had lost her mother. Quite possibly, she had lost her friends too. But Goddess, she would be damned if she allowed herself to lose Shepard. She had to do _something_. Liara recalled that one night they had spent together, right before their mission to Ilos. Neither of them knowing whether they would survive to see another day, they decided that this could very well be the last chance they'd have. And it had been glorious.

Liara had pulled every favor she could from everyone she knew, and eventually discovered that Shepard's body had been recovered. By unsavory characters.

Thus she traveled to Omega, the place where all unsavory characters came together. A little hiccup with the captain and crew of the freighter she traveled on couldn't keep her from reaching her goals – though she was happy with all the practice her biotic abilities had gotten due to the fight against Sovereign.

Eventually, she found her contact in Omega's Afterlife, a drell named Feron. Unfortunately, the two of them were soon cornered by Blue Suns mercenaries, hired by the illusive Shadow Broker. Liara could still picture their leader's head being torn apart from the high-power sniper rifle shot that had torn through it.

Turned out Cerberus had some interest in the matter as well. A small cell, led by the insufferable Miranda Lawson. Still, seeing as they actually talked about _bringing Shepard back_ , Liara didn't see much reason to oppose them. A quick chat with the Illusive Man clarified a lot: the Collectors were after Shepard's body, the Shadow Broker tried to obtain it for them, and he hired to Blue Suns to do the dirty work.

It seemed like some twisted treasure hunt, Liara figured in hindsight. Being sent from Feron to Cerberus, back to Afterlife to meet with the Pirate Queen Aria T'Loak. But not before biotically smacking Feron for being a Cerberus double-agent. Still, she needed him, so there wasn't much else she could do.

Aria was unpleasant – worse than the Batarian that harassed her and the Volus that wanted to buy her – and once she learnt of the Collectors' involvement, she and Feron were thrown out of Afterlife. But at least Aria was polite enough to give them the location of the Blue Suns' meeting.

The meeting was exactly where Aria told them it would be. No surprise there, Aria knew everything that went down on Omega. Feron kept her from storming the meeting when she heard that Shepard's body was there. As it turned out, his inadequacies still betrayed them, allowing the Shadow Broker's agent to flee Omega with Shepard's body aboard his ship.

Luckily, the drell had been able to convince her that it really had been an accident, otherwise she'd have done some serious harm. Using his ship, they pursued the agent, eventually ending up at one of the Broker's bases – Alingon. And there, they came very close to losing Shepard again.

They trailed a Collector, and somehow Liara ended up in the base's command center, speaking to the Shadow Broker himself. He acted as if it was all one big business transaction, but Liara was too smart for that to work. She quickly deduced that the only reason the Collectors would be this interested in Shepard was if they had dealings with the Reapers.

A frightening thought.

One destroyed command center later, she and Feron continued their little trip through the station, eventually breaking up the deal between the Broker's agents and the Collectors through a combination of subterfuge, chaos and cunning.

At the end of it, Liara managed to take off with Shepard's body in tow, although she found herself forced to leave Feron behind on the Broker's base. As of now, she still didn't know what had become of him. But the Broker was now at the top of her list of enemies. She'd make sure to get revenge.

She returned Shepard's body to Cerberus reluctantly. The pro-human organization did not have a good reputation. Some even went so far as to call them terrorists. But the Illusive Man felt confident they'd be able to bring Shepard back exactly the way she was. And that was an opportunity Liara could not allow herself to go by.

That had been almost two years ago, now. Liara had spent her time well, building a far-reaching information network, spanning most of the galaxy, from her office on Illium. Much like the Shadow Broker, she now had agents working for her, informants in large and important organizations, blackmail and bribes to get her way.

The only difference was that she used her resources for the betterment of the galaxy, and not for her own selfish gains. She sighed deeply as she turned her chair around again, focusing on the screen of her console. The message she'd just received had been very clear – no room for misinterpretation: they were close to reviving Shepard.

Which meant that her agent, also the Shadow Broker's agent, would soon betray her. Which, in turn, meant that there were some preparations for her to start working on. After all, she couldn't lose Shepard again.

First thing she needed to do was patching into the camera feeds of Lazarus Station – Cerberus' top-secret facility, of which she was not to have any knowledge. Too bad for the Illusive Man, though. Surely he would have known Liara wasn't about to just hand her beloved's body over without keeping tabs.

Operative Wilson worked for the Shadow Broker, but Liara had found him quite willing to double-deal for her as well. He would betray her, of course. But for that she was well prepared. At least he had given her access to the surveillance feeds. Bringing them up on her console split her screen in four segments: Shepard's motionless body lying on a table, Wilson in his office, Miranda Lawson sitting at her desk, and Jacob Taylor – the head of security – doing his patrols.

It seemed there was still time. For once, Liara allowed herself a genuinely happy smile. Shepard might never forgive her for handing her body over to Cerberus and bringing her back to life… But at least she'd _be alive_. Just knowing that took the edge off the sorrow she had endured for two years.

Now that she had eyes on the situation, it was time to take steps for long-term surveillance. And she knew just the person to ask. Browsing through Cerberus' classified files, she punched in her security code on her console and looked up the contact information she needed.

* * *

Sitting on the hard and uncomfortable chair, he was forced to look up at the three Admirals behind the desk on the dais. He wouldn't say he was an expert at reading people and their expressions, but still – he didn't like the looks on their faces.

"Flight Lieutenant Moreau," the eldest of the men started. "The Alliance recognizes your contributions against the dreadnought Sovereign during the Battle of the Citadel, where you piloted the SSV Normandy – as well as your missions leading up to this event."

Joker nodded anxiously, knowing that wasn't all they had to say. And he was right, of course.

"However, we cannot disregard the fact that the SSV Normandy was destroyed with you at the helm. Good men and women were lost with the Normandy, and while we're not saying anyone was at fault for this… incident, we believe that this is a good time for you to be relieved of your duties."

"Your appointment as the SSV Normandy's pilot was already a controversial and much-discussed case, considering your affliction," one of the other admirals continued. "And we believe that, because of this, it might be in the Alliance's best interest – as well as your own – to keep you grounded from here on out."

Joker opened his mouth to object, but the admirals cut him off before he could even start. Before he knew it, he was being escorted out of the room by two hefty Alliance soldiers. They walked him all the way to the main entrance of the Vancouver Alliance Headquarters. For some reason, it felt as if he was no longer a part of the Alliance now, but just a simple civilian.

He sighed. Life wasn't fair, sometimes. First, it had taken his health. Then, it had taken his best friend. And now the Alliance took his only remaining love away from him: Flying. It felt like there was really nothing left for him. Which made his omni-tool signaling an incoming message such an odd occurrence.

"Yeah?" he grunted after accepting the call, not at all in the mood for any social duties.

"Joker? It's Liara T'Soni… from the Normandy," the female voice came from the other end. As if Liara had to remind him who she was. He'd not soon forget the shy-yet-brave asari that had managed to conquer the unconquerable Commander Shepard.

"Liara? Where have you been all this time? And why are you calling now?"

He could have sworn he heard a soft chuckle on the other side. "I'm on Illium, taking care of a few problems. I'm sorry to hear the Alliance grounded you."

"How did you- Never mind, I don't even want to know."

"I hear a lot of voices over your omni-tool, Jeff. Could you go somewhere more private? I have a sensitive matter I'd like to discuss with you."

"Yeah, yeah, of course." He looked around, looking for 'more private,' but only finding the men's restroom as a suitable location. Quickly ducking inside and scrunching his face in disgust – you'd think with all technological advancements, humanity would manage to keep their public restrooms clean – he locked himself in one of the stalls.

"Alright, I'm all ears," he sighed, half-curious and half-annoyed at the secrecy. "What do you need?"

There was a longer-than-usual silence from the asari scientist. "Shepard needs our help."

Surely, he had misheard that. Shepard was dead, had been for two years, and no one could help her with anything ever again. He played the last sentence back three times, but really couldn't make anything else of it. Which led him to the next conclusion: grief had turned Liara mad.

"Liara, you know Commander Shepard didn't survive the SSV Normandy blowing up, right?"

"Of course, Joker," she sighed in return, sounding annoyed.

"She's dead."

"I know." This time, her voice sounded… almost teasing. As if she knew something he didn't. Considering the fact she already knew about the Alliance grounding him, that would actually make a lot of sense.

"So…?"

"I have some sensitive information to share with you, but you must let me finish talking, without interrupting me." There was another pause, before she continued. "Cerberus recovered Shepard's body, and they have been working on bringing her back for the past two years. The Illusive Man and his employees have gone through great lengths to ensure that she'll be exactly who she was before the incident, despite the damage done to her body."

"Cerberus? Why would _they_ get involved in this? And is that even possible?"

"Yes, Joker, it is possible. As for their reasons – it's a long story."

Joker sighed again, shaking his head. This was just too much. "So what do you need from me?"

"Cerberus is behind the decision to get you grounded by the Alliance. Their agents have infiltrated Earth's military system on a large scale. They'll be contacting you soon, making you an offer to come work for them."

Joker was silent for a while. He felt Liara was waiting for him to say something, but he simply couldn't wrap his mind around all the new information being provided. Him being speechless did not happen often.

"Joker, are you still there?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here."

"I need you to accept Cerberus' invitation."

"Y-You want me to work for those terrorists?" he stammered.

"No, Joker. I want you to work for me. Cerberus has been building an improved version of the Normandy – the Normandy SR-2 – and they'll ask you to pilot it. I don't trust Cerberus, and I'm not asking you to do so either, but we need to keep an eye on Shepard. We need to make sure she's still _her_ , and doesn't get into any trouble."

"You realize that those two don't go hand in hand, right? If Shepard really is the same person she was, she'll inevitable get into trouble."

"I know," Liara sighed. "I'm counting on it. Which is why I need your help."

"So… I'll get to fly an improved Normandy, work with Shepard and get paid for it?"

"Yes."

"Count me in, then."

After the call had ended, Joker remained seated inside the stall for a moment. The implications of his decision had not fully sunk in yet, but deep down, he felt he was doing the right thing. Liara was right – if Cerberus was bringing Shepard back, someone needed to keep an eye on her. Someone who knew her. And if Cerberus would indeed extend an invitation, it would provide them the perfect opportunity.

He was about to leave the restroom when his omni-tool signaled again.

"Hello, Mr. Moreau, this is Miranda Lawson. We've received news of the unfortunate turn of your career. Unlike the Alliance, Cerberus knows valuable talent when we see it. We would like to arrange a meeting with you to discuss the possibility of working together on a large project…"

Joker smiled to himself. Wherever Liara got her intel, it seemed to be solid.


	2. Preparations

For some reason, Liara had imagined that manipulating Cerberus would be more difficult than this. Their recruitment of Joker had gone exactly as she had planned – not that odd, considering she got all her intel straight from the Cerberus databanks – and her surveillance feeds constantly kept her updated.

She didn't even have to leave her office. The fact that Cerberus had started recruiting manpower to staff the new Normandy indicated that they were close to waking Shepard up, which confirmed the intel Liara had already gathered from their research notes. However, the new Normandy was a large ship – larger than its predecessor – and only one man would not be able to provide her the information and insight she so desperately needed – and craved.

Luckily, Cerberus' software was no match for her new, not entirely legal, data decryption program. She collected the names of the men and women who were to serve on the Normandy SR-2 with Shepard, and she felt confident that some of them could be convinced to do her a few favors.

For this, however, she _would_ need to leave her office. In fact, she needed to leave Illium altogether.

"Nyxeris!"

"Yes, Dr. T'Soni?" the asari at the desk in front of her office asked politely as she stepped into her office.

"I need transportation to the Citadel. It's an urgent matter. Could you book passage for me, and put my appointments on hold?"

"Of course, Dr. T'Soni," she replied, already frantically working her datapad. "There are no pressing appointments, and I've booked passage for you on a merchant ship, the MSV Strontium Mule," she smiled after only a minute. "Would there be anything else?"

"No, thank you, Nyxeris. That would be all."

* * *

"Excuse me, you are Engineer Daniels, correct?"

The slender brunette turned around to face her, the stand with engine parts she was observing apparently forgotten. "I am… And you are?"

"I am Liara T'Soni. You may not know me but I-"

"You were with Commander Shepard during the Battle of the Citadel!" the engineer exclaimed, her face suddenly turning friendly.

"I was," Liara conceded with a dip of her head. "And you were stationed on the SSV Perugia in that same battle."

Gabriella Daniels nodded, raising her eyebrows with an unspoken question.

"You and your friend, Engineer Donnelly were recently recruited by Cerberus to serve on the Normandy SR-2," Liara stated calmly, ignoring the panicked look it garnered. "Mr. Donnelly accepted the job eagerly after the Alliance's unfair treatment of Shepard's legacy, and you joined him because you felt he needed your support. However, you hold no love for Cerberus."

As she had expected, the engineer reacted defensively. "What's it to you?"

"I have a… proposition," Liara shrugged, motioning the human to walk with her. "By now, you'll have been briefed, and Cerberus will have told you about reviving Commander Shepard. Top-secret information, highly classified and known only to a handful of individuals across the galaxy. I think that, deep down, you know Cerberus cannot be trusted."

The engineer didn't reply in any way, but Liara _knew_ she had her attention. "I'm working on ensuring Shepard will be surrounded by a team of people that will ensure her safety and integrity. She was very dear to me, and I refuse to let Cerberus shred her legacy to pieces by using her for their own selfish goals. I need people aboard the Normandy to do so. People whom I can trust, and who will be compensated for their trouble."

The engineer seemed to doubt. "If Cerberus finds out I'm spying on their top-secret operation for an asari-"

"They won't find out. I know what I'm doing," Liara said, trying to project as much confidence as possible. "We'll communicate via a secure connection only. The Illusive Man will never find out."

There was a long silence as they looked out over the railing, taking in the view of the Zakera Wards and the skycars rushing by. "What do you need me to do?" Daniels sighed eventually.

"The Illusive Man will have you installing surveillance equipment throughout the Normandy. All I need you to do is place some extra equipment in some places, allowing me to keep an eye on the Commander," Liara replied, stealthily handing the equipment to the engineer.

"Where?"

Liara frowned for a moment. "The CIC, Operative Lawson's office, Engineering, the cockpit, the elevator and the mess hall, for instance."

"You know the ship?"

"I've… seen the blueprints," Liara confessed reluctantly. "Also, if you could, place some of the gear in the captain's quarters."

"The captain's quarters?"

"Yes," Liara smiled. "Like I said, you'll be compensated generously."

After their departure, Liara reflected on the relative ease with which she had managed to convince Engineer Daniels to aid her in her plans. The fact that she only joined Cerberus because of her best friend had certainly made it easier, she thought. That, and the fact that it was common knowledge she and Shepard had been… close.

* * *

There was an asari sitting on his couch. Very casually, reading something from a datapad, as if she were entirely at home. His first thought was of his wife and daughter, and he noticeably sighed with relief when he deduced that they wouldn't be home yet.

His next thought was running away, but the door had automatically slid closed behind him, the red glow indicating it had been locked. _Damn these cheap Zakera Ward apparments. C-Sec didn't care for them and their security._

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my home?" he demanded, more confident than he felt.

The asari looked up from her datapad. From here, she didn't look too dangerous, but you never knew with these damned aliens. Asari were renowned for their biotics – a hidden danger you couldn't see at the surface.

"I'm here to make you an offer," the blue woman smiled, placing her datapad on the table and leaning forward.

"Not interested," he replied gruffly. "Now get out of here!"

The asari shook her head slightly. "Mr. Gardner, I know you're working for Cerberus. I know you've been appointed as mess sergeant for the Normandy SR-2, under Commander Shepard's command."

"How do you- That's classified information!" he sputtered indignantly.

The asari merely smiled, as if this was a funny situation. "I know a lot of things. I know you used to work on the eezo rigs in the frontier colonies, but were sent away due to budget cuts. You and your family moved to the Citadel looking for a better life, but couldn't afford anything more than this place, right in the middle of one of the worst neighborhoods. None of you are really happy about the situation, but it is as it is…"

He felt himself wavering for a moment. This woman seemed to know everything going on in his life. "And what of it?"

"I have a job offer for you. Take the position aboard the Normandy, and keep me informed of anything happening there."

She made it sound so simple. If only it were like that.

"No way. I'm not betraying Cerberus to you. I don't even _know_ you."

The asari leaned back into the couch, still appearing more relaxed than he felt in his own home right now. "I think you might want to reconsider, Mr. Gardner."

"And why's that?"

The asari reached for her datapad, holding it out to him. "There's an apartment available on the Presidium. If you were to accept my offer, your family can live there for the duration of your deployment. If you don't betray me to the Illusive Man, or Operator Lawson, I'll make it permanent. Better accommodations, better school for your daughter, better job for your wife."

He took the datapad, looking at the information on the screen. This all just seemed… too good to be true. But what if this asari could really offer his family these opportunities? Who was he to condemn them to living in the Wards if they could reside on the Presidium…?

"Can you really do this?"

The asari merely nodded, taking the datapad back.

There was another short moment of hesitation, before he finally nodded. "Very well. What harm can it do, right?" Mere seconds later, he felt his omni-tool vibrating, receiving a connection to a secure channel. He looked up just in time to see the asari walking out the door, and the skycar of a moving company pulling up in front.

"I'll be damned…"

* * *

The next encounter, Liara knew, she had to approach cautiously. It was of critical importance that she get Yeoman Kelly Chambers on her side. She'd be one of the closest crewmembers to Shepard, as well as her psychologist. So if anything were to be "off" about her, she'd be the first to know. And Liara had to ensure that she'd be the second.

"Miss Chambers?"

As soon as the redhead looked up at her, Liara felt her piercing green eyes scanning her. "Yes?"

"You may not know me, but I am-"

"Dr. Liara T'Soni. You are one of the legends that saved the Citadel. Of course I know you."

Liara smiled. "Well, that makes things a little easier. Could we speak privately?"

The psychologist led her to a small room which seemed to be an office fit in a broom closet. "What's this about?"

Liara frowned. This was it. "I have some concerns about Cerberus' initiative to revive Commander Shepard, give her command of a new Normandy, and sending her out on a top-secret mission."

To her surprise, Chambers didn't so much as blink in surprise. "Put like that, I think everyone would. The toll of dying and being revived on someone's psyche is not to be underestimated. I assure you Cerberus is taking this issue very seriously. Which is why they've appointed me as Yeoman."

"Yes, so I've heard," Liara mused out loud. "And I'm certain you're very proficient at your job, Miss Chambers. However, being a… close friend of her, I'd very much like to be able to keep tabs on your Commander myself."

Chambers smiled. "Please, call me Kelly. And if the rumors are to be believed, you and Commander Shepard were more than just friends," she replied with a Cheshire-grin.

Liara felt her cheeks flushing under the psychologists scrutiny. A blushing asari was not quite as noticeable as a blushing human, but she had no doubt Chambers picked up on it. "Well, yes, but-"

Chambers raised her hands, cutting her off mid-sentence. "I understand your concerns. And frankly, I think they're justified. As long as it can be done covertly, I have no problem with… keeping you in the loop."

Liara nodded, taking a hold of her embarrassment again. "Of course. I'll have a secure channel set up."

"Well, if there's nothing else?" Chambers asked, her grin still in place. "I really need to get back to work. The Illusive Man sent me several files I need to study. But… I'm sure you already knew that, right?"

Liara didn't deem it wise to take the bait and respond to the question, instead nodding briskly before hastily leaving the little office. That had not at all gone as she had expected. She just hoped that Kelly Chambers could be trusted not to betray her to Cerberus.

Then again, Liara had made sure there were plenty of contingency plans for such scenarios.

* * *

Liara's final contact turned out to be the most time-consuming of them all. Not because convincing her would be difficult – she expected it would be rather easy, actually – but because she had to travel to the Sol System to meet her. Luckily, Mars had one of the largest known Prothean Archives, meaning that the visit of one of the most renowned Prothean experts in the galaxy would not cause any suspicion.

After having spent two full days in the archives, working on her latest research paper – "Changes in Architecture during the Late-Prothean Dynasty" – she deemed it safe to visit an old friend at the Mars Naval Medical Center.

The grey hair and distinct voice made it remarkably easy to track down Dr. Karin Chakwas, medical officer of the SSV Normandy, and soon to be medical officer of the SSV Normandy SR-2. "Doctor Chakwas?"

Looking up from her papers, a bright smile quickly appeared on the worn face. "Liara T'Soni! How unexpected to find you here!"

Before she knew it, Liara was enveloped in a hug that she had not expected. "You are not here because of your health, I hope? I imagine Thessia would be more suited to treat any ailments."

"I was doing research at the Prothean Archives," Liara replied once the hug ended. "I decided to see if you had time for some catching up."

Evidently, the good doctor caught the strained undertone of Liara's voice, nodding silently and beckoning her to follow to her office. As soon as the door of the office closed and Chakwas was seated, the doctor spoke.

"I'm assuming you are here because of the offer Cerberus extended to me?"

Liara was more than a little surprised at the directness of the question, but nodded nonetheless.

"No need to look so surprised, Dr. T'Soni," Chakwas smiled as she leaned back in her chair. "Unlike most, I've kept an eye on my old crewmembers. I'm well aware of your status as an information broker on Illium. Combined with your connection to Commander Shepard, it only makes sense that you'd be here for that very reason. In fact, I was almost expecting you. Almost."

Liara couldn't help laughing a little. Dr. Chakwas was exactly as she remembered her. "I would have hated to disappoint."

"What can I do for you, then?"

"I'm assuming you've accepted the position aboard the new Normandy?"

"For better or for worse, I have. Jeff will need continued medical care, and I'm guessing our Commander might be in need of some too. That and a familiar face, I'm sure."

Liara nodded. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried. I have arranged for several contacts aboard the Normandy. But I need someone who can gauge whether Shepard is really… _her_."

Dr. Chakwas nodded, her look expressing concern as well. "I understand, Liara. I'm sure you have several secure connections prepared. If you patch me in, I'll try and keep you informed. The Illusive Man can demand all he wants, I will not betray my friends for a better paygrade."

"I did not expect anything less," Liara replied, already setting up a secure channel. "Look after her, doctor."

"I will. We both will."

Liara turned around to leave, but paused with her hand on the door's button. "Doctor, whatever became of that bottle of brandy you always kept in your desk?"

Dr. Chakwas laughed heartily, although it also sounded a little sad. "It was lost during the attack. It's a shame I never got to share it with anyone."

Liara hummed. "Well, there's always later, isn't there?"

* * *

"Welcome back, Dr. T'Soni. I assume everything went as planned?" Nyxeris asked as soon as she ascended the stairs to her office.

"Yes, Nyxeris. All arrangements were satisfactory, thank you."

Her assistant nodded, turning her attention back to the screen of her console. "Glad to hear it. Matriarch Gallae came by three days ago. She wished to speak to you regarding an urgent matter and requested that you contact her as soon as you were able. You also received a call from Aria T'Loak, who claimed to have a viable business proposition."

Liara nodded. "I'll contact them both. If you could forward the data?"

"Already done, Dr. T'Soni," Nyxeris smiled. "If there's anything else you need… I'll be right here."

Once behind her desk again, Liara booted her console up, activating the second screen as well. The security feeds from Cerberus' Lazarus facility immediately sprang up on the first screen. The second screen remained static for a few moments, before several windows appeared, displaying various rooms that could only be part of the Normandy SR-2: the Combat Information Center, Engineering, the lounge, the shuttle bay, the cockpit, the elevator, and a large, spacious bedroom that could only be the captain's quarters.

Shepard's bedroom.

Liara couldn't help but smile at the prospect of keeping an eye on Shepard at all times.

She knew it was bordering on stalking. But she had to keep Shepard safe. The end justified the means.

The end definitely justified the means.


	3. Surveillance

Back at her office, Liara took a few deep breaths as she watched her terminals coming to life. Part of the information business, she had come to learn, was trading favors with the right people. The right people meaning: people that might, in the future, be able to return one of your favors and give you the edge you so desperately need.

The contact information for Matriarch Gallae and Aria T'Loak had been sent to her equipment. Thank the Goddess she had Nyxeris – without her assistant she'd have been lost. She punched in the first contact, idly staring at her second screen – security feeds from Cerberus' Lazarus Station – while waiting for her contact to respond.

"Yes?"

"Matriarch Gallae? It's Liara T'Soni. You had called my office and asked to be contacted?"

"Ah yes, Dr. T'Soni," the Matriarch replied after a short hesitation. "We don't normally do business this way, but desperate times ask for desperate measures. I've… asked around. People tell me that if I'm looking for someone in asari space, or in the Terminus Systems, you're the person to talk to."

"My reputation proceeds me, it seems," Liara replied slowly. "Who do you need to find?"

"Someone dangerous," came the vague and weary reply. "She goes by the name Mirala. It is imperative that we learn of her location as soon as possible."

Liara opened a clean file on her terminal, inserting the information on the request. "Anything else you can tell me about her?"

"… no."

"I see…" she muttered, rubbing her neck. "I'll keep an eye out, and let you know if I find anything."

"That would be much appreciated, Dr. T'Soni. Goddess be with you."

"And with you."

… And to think that had been the easier of the calls planned for today, Liara thought, rolling her shoulders and feeling the tension setting in. She could _really_ use Shepard here right now. A massage and some quality time with her always managed to ease the tension in her muscles.

"Don't go there, Liara," she whispered to herself. "You've come too far to let grief and regret take hold now. Not when you're this close."

Before she could berate herself any more, she punched in the contact information of Aria T'Loak. She noticed that she felt a little nervous – despite her intense dislike for the self-proclaimed Pirate Queen of Omega, Liara couldn't help respecting the mysterious asari. Perhaps it was her age, or maybe it was because of the immense power she wielded.

"Oh, look who it is… The great Dr. T'Soni!" Aria's arrogant voice boomed through her office.

"Hello, Aria," Liara replied politely, not showing any signs of annoyance or intimidation. Aria was like a predator – the moment you would show her a weakness, the ruthless asari would exploit it in any way she could. Liara couldn't blame her – it had brought her to where she was now. "You wanted to speak with me?"

Aria rolled her eyes, leaning back on her couch, the asari dancers of her club working in the background. "Straight to business, huh? No pleasantries to exchange, then? Very well. Since you caused such a stir on my station when you were last here, I thought I'd let you know I dealt with the Blue Suns mercs that you encountered. They won't be encountered again."

"That's good to hear."

"I also hear that you've made an enemy of the Shadow Broker and the elusive Collectors. Risky business you put yourself in."

"We can't always choose our enemies," Liara sighed.

Aria nodded. "Still, you don't shy away from a fight when the odds aren't in your favor. In my book, that earns you come points."

"Really?" Liara cursed inwardly at how hopeful she sounded – and evidently, Aria noticed it too. For some reason, though, she decided not to throw a fuss about it.

"I might be a bitch, Dr. T'Soni, but I do show _some_ respect to those who deserve it," she smiled arrogantly. "If you need something on Omega, give me a call and I'll pull some strings."

And then she was disconnected. No thank you, no goodbye, no 'talk to you later.' Just a blank screen staring back at her, and the static sound of an empty connection. Still, Liara mused, it had been a successful and much more pleasant call than she had expected. Having the support – however arbitrary or temporary – of Omega could come in handy.

With her upcoming project of keeping Shepard safe, she might need it… Speaking of which, there was still more research to do, more preparations to be taken… And it was time to get back to work. After all, what was the use of such a broad intelligence network if one couldn't use it to keep their loved ones out of harm's way?

A few quick strokes of her fingers over the keys of her console brought up a new screen. Surveillance logs from a top-secret Cerberus facility – possibly, but not necessarily, Lazarus Station. Her contact, Wilson, discussing Shepard's state with the Illusive Man himself.

"It can't be done. It's not a matter of resources," the voice came out of her speakers, distorted due to the bad quality of the feeds.

"It's always a matter of resources. We're not losing Shepard," the Illusive Man replied, his voice equally distorted, yet authorative and final.

"Sir, Shepard is clinically brain-dead. After that much trauma, that long with no oxygen… We cannot overcome nature."

"Operative Lawson disagrees. She is now in charge of Project Lazarus."

The video cut off, and Liara sighed deeply, shaking her head sadly. She had seen what had remained of her loved one when she stole Shepard's body from the Shadow Broker's henchmen. It hadn't been a pleasant sight. And although Liara would never trust Cerberus or the Illusive Man, she had to give him credit for his persistence.

She started the second video, showing the same men in the same room.

"Tissue regeneration is proceeding. The helmet kept the brain intact… for whatever good that will do."

"Lawson will find a way."

"Sir, you realize that Shepard is an Alliance soldier. As far as she knows, Cerberus is a terrorist organization."

"I'm not looking for a dance partner. We need Shepard, and Shepard needs resources. She'll work with us."

Liara smiled to herself. Knowing Shepard, and provided Cerberus would give her a worthy cause to fight for, that would probably be true. The Commander never knew when it was best to walk away from a fight, even if the cost of doing so would be great. No, if someone offered Allison Shepard something worth fighting for, she'd work with whomever she had to, and do whatever she had to, to ensure the job would be done. Still reminiscing, Liara continued on to the next video.

"Project Lazarus is reporting neurological activity. They're requesting more funding."

"Granted. Get me our potential recruits file. Shepard will be up soon. We need a crew."

"Our existing forces should be more than sufficient…"

"No. We need sympathetic faces. I need Shepard invested. Tap Kelly Chambers and recruit Donnelly. I imagine Miss Daniels will follow. We'll want some old friends as well. Contact Dr. Chakwas, and send me the psych profile on Shepard's pilot… along with a bottle of '47 Thessia Red."

That video log had been recorded only last week. Liara grinned at her screen as she tried to imagine the Illusive Man's reaction to these security leaks – and her actions on discovering this information. Chambers, Daniels, Joker and Chakwas had all been recruited as double agents. The Illusive Man thought he held all the cards, but Liara knew: that was only an illusion. Liara couldn't help the little chuckle that her internal word-play caused.

Still, these weren't the videos that had spurred her to fire up her console. There were other matters that had to be attended to. It took some browsing through the collected files that she had pilfered from Cerberus' systems, but within minutes, she had the videos she needed.

"Here's what we recovered. Smart enough to signal for help, but it won't be talking philosophy anytime soon."

The Illusive Man's hologram reacted casually. "You'd be surprised, Doctor. Once we combine it with the pieces we recovered from the Citadel…"

"I'm still concerned about that. This "rogue VI" wiped out every soldier on Luna. Combining it with Reaper tech… well…"

"That's what the shackles are for. The Enhanced Defense Intelligence will be completely under control."

Liara remembered Shepard talking about that rogue VI – having resolved the issue herself. Apparently, it hadn't been pretty. She continued on to the next video.

"Our sims indicate that the Enhanced Defense Intelligence gives the highest combat improvements on frigates. Anything heavier and the ships react too slowly to benefit from EDI's advice."

"EDI?"

"Oh, that's, uh… well, the boys in the lab came up with the name for her."

"For it… Good work. I'll take your recommendations on planned installation."

"Sir, she… it can be very persuasive. If it were to turn a crewman, convince them to disable the shackles… well…"

"It's a cyberwarfare suite, Doctor. Nothing more."

Liara leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes as she turned her chair around. A completely independent AI aboard the new Normandy could be… problematic. Even with the shackles they discussed, it could be a formidable opponent – possibly even an obstacle to be removed.

This… _EDI_ might very well discover her surveillance equipment. Or observe one of her spies communicating with her. Liara had attempted to peek into the Enhanced Defense Intelligence's core functions, decipher some of its code, see what its capabilities were, and what its shackles entailed.

She had come up blank. While Cerberus' Lazarus Station seemed to be leaking left and right, there wasn't a single point where she could penetrated into the servers that held the AI, or even into any place that might have held information on it. It was beyond frustrating, and one of the major holes in her plan. After all, Liara couldn't prepare for something as long as she didn't know what it was and did.

She had, however, managed to uncover some information on this grand mission for which Cerberus was so keen to revive the great Commander Shepard. Entire human colonies had started disappearing out in the Terminus Systems – literally.

They hadn't just _left_ and they weren't just _killed_. Out in Terminus, that would have been remarkably normal, and exceptionally dull. No, the colonists had just vanished. No one was left on the affected planets, no distress signals were ever sent out, no evidence of any fighting had been found – it was as if they'd all gone up in smoke while going about their business.

And the worst of it all? The Alliance – humanity's military apparatus – wasn't doing a damn thing about it. Since these colonies were out in the Terminus Systems, both the Council and the Alliance simply stated it was outside their jurisdiction. Which was true, of course, but that didn't make it any less troubling.

And now Cerberus wanted to throw Shepard at the problem.

Looking at the trading floor below her office window, Liara mentally worked out a list of tasks she had to fulfill before allowing herself to call it a day. Some were, naturally, more important than others. Before she did anything else, though, she had to compile a data-packet. It had to be ready for sending whenever the Shadow Broker gave his operative the go-ahead on their plan to take Shepard out of the game again – for good, this time.

And honestly, Liara had no idea when that would be…


	4. Wake-up Call

Miranda sat in her office, reading the private message she had received earlier today. It was the seventh time in two weeks that the Illusive Man had deemed it necessary to urge Project Lazarus to speed up their work. She understood the importance of their work, and the need for it to be completed – but science couldn't be rushed.

Wilson, the lead scientist, had told her that every time she passed on the Illusive Man's message to him. "Science cannot be rushed." The Illusive Man wouldn't hear it. He figured he'd poured enough credits into Project Lazarus for the impossible to become possible. If it was possible to revive someone who had been dead for years, then why wouldn't it be possible to rush the process?

Miranda had tried arguing against that logic, but had been overruled. Just like she had been overruled when she suggested placing a mind-control chip in Commander Shepard to ensure she'd do as she was supposed to. After all the time, effort and resources they'd put in this project, it'd be disastrous if Commander Shepard would just decide to walk away from it all. From them, from their mission, their cause.

But they were close now. All that remained was waiting for the scars to heal, and then they'd wake Shepard up and see whether she was indeed the woman she had been before she died. Or whether she was now some kind of mindless zombie, an empty shell.

She was surprised to hear the knocking at her door. Everyone on Lazarus Station had been made well-aware that they shouldn't disturb her in her office unless it was _really_ important. And since all that remained to be done now was waiting, there couldn't be something quite that important.

"Come in," she called, annoyance barely concealed. When the door opened, her annoyance turned into surprise for a brief moment, then vigilance, and then anger. The LOKI mech standing in front of her politely asked her to leave the premises, all the while raising his arm and pointing his gun at her.

The biotic explosion she caused in self-defense carried enough power to rip the mech to pieces, chunks of metal being scattered throughout her office and the hallway, the automatic door bleeping incessantly, clearly malfunctioning.

But Miranda wasn't paying attention to that. One of the security mechs had just tried to assassinate her. Sure, it had been an ill-prepared and foolish attempt, but an attempt nonetheless. And mechs didn't make these kind of decisions of their own accord. Someone had instructed it to do this.

And that meant there was a traitor embedded in Project Lazarus. She grabbed the pistol from the corner of her desk, and prepared to contact Jacob Taylor, Lazarus' head of security, to tell him about the recent developments when the alarms suddenly went off, and she received a warning about mech-malfunctions throughout the station on her omni-tool.

Evidently, Jacob was already aware of the issue. That simplified things. Now, her main priority was keeping Shepard safe. Shepard, who would undoubtedly be the main target of this attack, and who was still unconscious in the medical wing.

Strengthening the grip on her weapon and heading out of her office toward the medical wing, she activated the intercom. "Wake up, Commander," she urged, ducking her head as a mech fired at her from a distance. Two shots to its head shut it down.

"Shepard, do you hear me? Get out of that bed now – this facility is under attack. Shepard! Your scars aren't healed, but I need you to get moving. This facility is under attack," she continued, repeating the important phrases to urge the Commander on, just as they had taught her. "There's a pistol in the locker on the other side of the room. Hurry!"

She was glad she'd had the precognition to leave a weapon for the Commander. The images on her omni-tool showed her that the Commander was indeed getting up and moving towards the locker.

"You don't have time to wait around, Shepard! Grab your weapon and armor!" For crying out loud, how dense could this woman be?

"This pistol doesn't have a thermal clip," the creaky voice came over her intercom.

 _Damn it_ , Miranda thought. _I knew I'd forgotten something._ "It's a med bay. We'll get you a clip from… damn it! Those canisters by the door are going to blow. Get behind cover, now!"

The sound of the explosion carried over the connection, causing a wave of static to drown all other sounds out for a moment. "Someone's hacking security trying to kill you. Look for a thermal clip for your pistol."

Miranda looked on as Shepard destroyed several mechs with the newly-recovered thermal clip. Despite her dislike for the woman, and everything she stood for, Miranda had to admit she was a good shot. Still not as good as she herself was, but whatever. If the Illusive Man said they needed Shepard, that was probably true.

"We need to get you to the shuttles, Commander. Keep moving!"

Miranda continued to lead Shepard through the station, getting closer and closer towards the shuttle bay, where the other personnel would also gather. Then they could get off this god-forsaken station.

Her omni-tool alerted her to the fact that a large group of mechs were headed towards the Commander. Without thinking of the repercussions, she tapped into the power her biotic implants provided her, causing a large biotic explosion to rip a chunk out of the wall, incapacitating three LOKIs, and catching the attention of the others, who now turned and started chasing her.

"Hurry up, Commander. I can't keep the mechs distracted for long!" She ran through the corridor, hearing the mechs chasing after her, and seeing the bullets zipping past her. Shepard was close to the shuttles by now, though. "You're doing great, Shepard. Head to the shuttle bay, I'll meet you there so we can evacuate and… Damn it!"

Someone was blocking her communication. She doubted Shepard had even received her last message. It appeared the Commander was on her own now. Miranda continued running, rounding a corner and using the console there to lock the door behind her. It wouldn't take them long to get through, especially if one of the YMIR mechs were to show up, but she had to make use of every advantage she could give herself.

As she ran through the long, straight corridor, she noticed one of the terminals next to her coming to life, insistently beeping for attention. Attention that Miranda couldn't give right now. Whatever it was would be dealt with when Cerberus sent in the recovery teams. The explosion behind her signaled that, right now, she just had to _keep running_.

She locked another door behind her, using the console in the room to disable the gravity in the corridor behind her. _That_ should definitely keep the mechs off of her for a while, she figured. She shut the console down again to prevent further abuse and turned to leave the room and continue towards the shuttle bay – only to hear the console beeping in the same rhythm as the one in the previous corridor had done. There was a moment of hesitation while Miranda wondered whether she should pay attention to it, but the sound of more incoming mechs forced her hand.

Still, it was very odd for the terminals and consoles in a secure station to act up like this. She doubted it was a side-effect of the hacked mechs – intended or unintended – since their command protocols were stored on an entirely different server.

She raced down the stairs to reach the lower level – not trusting the elevators in situations like these – and stopped for a moment, listening for signs of more mechs being inbound, but hearing none. She continued on at a slower pace when she noticed another terminal suddenly coming to life. Instead of bleeping, though, she heard a familiar voice.

"Operative Wilson reporting, sir," the terminal seemed to repeat, over and over. Miranda tapped the button to activate the screen, which brought up a surveillance feed from three days ago, showing Dr. Wilson, the lead scientist of Project Lazarus, in one of the smaller storage rooms. He seemed to be talking to his omni-tool. Miranda started the video.

"Operative Wilson reporting, sir."

"Wilson, how are things going on your end?"

"Very well, sir. Project Lazarus is almost completed, so whatever we're planning, we need to do it soon," Wilson said, shiftily looking around. "I think Miranda Lawson might have her suspicions about me."

Miranda arched her eyebrow at the screen. Wilson was definitely not talking to one of his Cerberus superiors – she and the Illusive Man were the only ones. And what was this about her having suspicions about him?

"The Shadow Broker was very clear. Shepard needs to die, and her body needs to be recovered and left at the drop-zone. Only then will you receive the agreed upon payment on the designated account."

"What do you need me to do?" Wilson asked in hushed tones.

"I suggest a manual override of the security mechs at the station, since we cannot seem to manage getting independent mercenaries anywhere near your location without Cerberus shooting them down. Once the mechs have done all the hard work, you can recover the body and bring it to us."

"Very well. But you better have my payment ready."

The video ended, leaving Miranda to stare at the inactive console. She tried to replay the video, but found the damn machine to be unresponsive. For all intents and purposes, it seemed to be broken, which only added to her confusion. Who had instructed this terminal to play this footage? And how had he done that, if the console wasn't even active? And maybe even more importantly, why?

She shook her head to focus. Those answers could be found later. Right now, she had to deal with the situation at hand: Wilson betraying them for the Shadow Broker, and trying to kill everyone on this station. She _had_ to get to the shuttle bay.

The moment she turned around, she found herself face to face with a small army of mechs, mostly LOKIs, with two large YMIRs lined up behind them. How they could possibly have managed to sneak up on her was beyond her. But that mattered little… It seemed Wilson had deemed her the greatest threat on the station – flattering, really – and send an army to take care of her. And it seemed he had won.

No matter how hard she'd fight, and fight she would, there was no way she could take on all these mechs at once and still manage to survive. Not even her peak physical condition and top-of-the-line biotic implants could make that happen.

She felt the power amassing in her right hand, ready to fire it at the mechs and start what could well be the final fight of her life. Just when she was about to release it, however, the indicators on the mechs switched from red to green. Without any reason, they stepped aside, leaving a narrow path for Miranda to walk through.

As she moved past them, towards the elevator that would lead her to the shuttle bay, the mechs saluted her, chiming pleasantries like "have a pleasant afternoon!" and "Good to see you, Ms. Lawson!" It was beyond odd, and somewhat concerning, Miranda thought. When she turned around in the elevator, watching the doors close, she saw the mechs disabling, falling to the ground limply, as if someone had removed or disabled their power cores.

More mysteries to add to the growing pile of questions Miranda would have to investigate when all of this was over. She punched in the button for the shuttle bay, using her omni-tool to gauge the situation of Lazarus Station. Her expectations had been correct: the med-bay in D-wing had been hit hardest, along with the server rooms and living accommodations. The shuttle bay and its surrounding area were virtually untouched.

Clearly, Wilson had planned to use this escape route himself.

The elevator doors opened, revealing Jacob, Shepard and Dr. Wilson.

"Miranda! But, you were…"

Without thinking twice or hesitating for a single moment, she brought her gun up and fired a shot, straight through Wilson's chest. "Dead?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Jacob asked incredulously, staring down at the body.

"My job," Miranda replied casually, stepping out of the elevator. "Wilson betrayed us all."

"Even if you're sure, did he deserve that welcome?" Shepard asked, aiming her pistol at Miranda.

"He sabotaged the security systems, killed my staff, and he would have killed us."

"You sure about that, Miranda? We've known Wilson for years. What if you're wrong?" Jacob interspersed.

"I'm never wrong. I thought you'd have learned that by now, Jacob." Miranda didn't like defending herself. Couldn't these two see that their first priority was getting off this station?

"You should have taken him alive. See what he knew," Shepard admonished, still aiming her weapon at Miranda's head.

"Too risky. I've put too much time and effort in bringing you back to life to let you get killed now."

"You really think Wilson's capable of that?" Jacob asked, always trying to see the good in people.

"Not anymore," Miranda shrugged, looking at the traitor's dead body.

Shepard finally lowered her weapon. "If you say so. What's our next step?"

"We get on the shuttle and go. My boss wants to speak to you."

"You mean the Illusive Man? I know you work for Cerberus."

"Ah, Jacob," Miranda said with a tired smile. "I should've known your conscience would get the better of you."

"Lying to the commander isn't the way to get her to join our cause."

Well, fair enough. That was probably true anyway, Miranda figured. Honestly, though, she was just happy that Shepard and Jacob _finally_ stepped into the shuttle that was standing stand-by. High time they left Lazarus behind, no matter how distrustful Shepard was of them.

* * *

In her office on Illium, Liara finally allowed herself a moment's respite, rolling her chair away from the consoles on her desk. In the end, everything had turned out as planned, despite some minor setbacks – such as Miranda not responding to the terminals Liara kept activating throughout the Lazarus station.

Still, Allison Shepard was alive, and no longer in immediate danger. It had been strange and troubling and promising to see Shepard walking around and talking to Jacob Taylor. It was impossible to be sure, but she _seemed_ to be the woman Liara had come to know and love so much.

Considering the new Cerberus base to which Miranda Lawson would fly their shuttle, Liara didn't have to worry about anything for the rest of the day. The Cerberus shuttles weren't exactly the fastest of the bunch, and the journey spanned quite a few systems.

She focused on her console for mere moments, filing the newly found information on the vulnerabilities of Cerberus mechs and the easiest way to exploit them away for later reference, before shutting her equipment down and walking out of her office.


	5. Allies

Goddess, it had been good to see Shepard's verbal jousting with the Illusive Man. Seeing as Cerberus' security protocols were as faulty as ever – presumably since the Illusive Man wasn't _actually_ there anyway – Liara had been able to listen in on the entire conversation.

First thing Shepard had done was calling the Illusive Man and his employees terrorists. The second thing, once the enigmatic leader of the organization had convinced Shepard of the direness of the situation and the need for their mission – was asking about her old crew. The Illusive Man had casually remarked that Ashley was still in the Alliance, Tali had returned to the Migrant Fleet, Wrex was on Tuchanka, and Garrus had disappeared into nothingness.

Liara could have sworn that Shepard had to swallow a few times before asking about her. And then the Illusive Man had the nerve to tell her that 'Dr. T'Soni is working for the Shadow Broker, and cannot be trusted.' The nerve of the man.

Sure, Allison Shepard didn't seem like she believed the bold-faced lie… But still… Liara would give the Illusive Man a good piece of her mind next time they were in contact with each other. Working for the Shadow Broker, of all things…

But now wasn't the time to worry about that. Shepard was off to some backwater colony – Freedom's Progress – of which the inhabitants had recently disappeared, along with Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson. Of course, the entire mission was a charade. The Illusive Man had already seen the security footage recorded and compiled by a lone survivor. He already knew the Collectors were behind the abductions.

Still, Liara couldn't blame the man for sending Shepard to the colony herself. It's what she would have done, after all. Seeing is believing, and he needed Shepard to believe if he wanted to convince her to work with them. _With_ them, not _for_ them. Apparently, Shepard was fully in charge of this operation.

The Illusive Man had, however, taken the liberty of compiling dossiers on possible recruits for Shepard's team. And they weren't even all-human, either, Liara noticed.

 _Archangel_

 _-Small-unit tactical expertise_

 _-Omni-tool expert and noted sniper_

 _Archangel is a mercenary commander whose operations are noted for their technical expertise and strategic brilliance. He is responsible for high-profile attacks on gang leaders on Omega and can likely be found there._

That was the file that Cerberus Command had forwarded to Shepard about the vigilante dubbed 'Archangel.' The added notes on Archangel being a cold-blooded killer, a non-human, and an anonymous being altogether, however, were not added to the message. The Illusive Man had deemed the concerns 'juvenile' and 'irrelevant.'

Liara was inclined to disagree. As soon as she'd come across the file, she'd copied it onto her own servers and started digging around the extranet for more information on the mysterious vigilante. It wasn't long before she had found out that half of Omega considered Archangel a crime-fighting hero. The other half considered him an annoyance. That was probably the more criminally-inclined half of Omega, Liara suspected.

She found several videos on Omega's semi-secure networks, displaying Archangel's skill and exploits. The first one showed him and his men raiding an Eclipse transport of Red Sand, killing all the mercenaries guarding it. A little more digging showed that one of them was the brother of Jaroth, who, in turn, was the leader of the Eclipse cell on Omega.

Apparently, Archangel was a turian, and he was clearly not afraid of making powerful enemies. That could both be good, or very, very bad. It would remain to be seen.

Liara also found a distorted file that showed Archangel in one-on-one combat with the Blood Pack leader Garm, a powerful krogan who didn't seem very intent on losing. In the end, the fight ended in Archangel fleeing the scene when Garm's reinforcements arrived, but up to that point, the fight had been in his favor. Another powerful enemy.

Finally, there was Archangel's attempt on Tarak's life – the leader of the Blue Suns – in his own home. Clearly, Archangel was not above fighting dirty when the need arose. Something Liara both admired and despised. She'd do it if it were necessary, but she'd never be particularly happy about engaging someone with an unfair advantage.

Yes, Archangel would be someone Liara would need to keep an eye on, she decided, for Shepard's safety. She stored the information she'd found away for later reference and opened Cerberus' next dossier.

 _Dr. Mordin Solus_

 _-Biological weapons expert_

 _-Light weapons training with Salarian Special Tasks Group_

 _Dr. Mordin Solus is a salarian biological weapons expert whose technology may hold the key to countering Collector attacks. He is currently operating a medical clinic in the slums of Omega._

Ah, yes, Liara thought. She'd heard about Dr. Solus. Quite a lot, in fact. According to some top-secret salarian files she had bribed out of a scientist at one of the STG bases, Dr. Solus had been involved in the adjusting of the Genophage some time ago, to ensure that the krogan would not overcome the salarians' _cure_.

There was no doubt in her mind that Solus was a brilliant scientist. And it was hard to argue his skill with a weapon, seeing as he gunned down several Blue Sun mercenaries in front of his clinic on Omega, shortly after its opening. It had caused quite a fright for many of the refugees.

It seemed that Dr. Solus was, for all intents and purposes, as much distrusted as he was needed in the slums of Omega. Not entirely unexpectedly, Liara found some of Cerberus' more private notes on this dossier as well.

- _Non-human_

 _-Possible psycho- and/or sociopath_

Well, nothing new there. Liara doubted the old salarian would be anything the Commander couldn't handle, so she moved on to the next file.

 _Dr. Okeer_

 _-Millennia of combat and strategic experience_

 _-Rumored familiarity with Collector technology_

 _A brilliant and brutal krogan warlord who fought in the Krogan Rebellions, Dr. Okeer has become obsessed with saving the krogan people from the genophage and is believed to have contacted the Collectors in an attempt to gain technology to that end. He is currently in a Blue Suns camp on Korlus, though the nature of his relationship with the mercenary group is unknown._

Well, this one was slightly more troubling. Liara wasn't sure what was worse: 'fought in the Krogan Rebellions,' 'obsessed with saving the krogan,' 'believed to have contacted the Collectors,' or 'currently in a Blue Suns camp on Korlus.'

Admittedly, neither of the mentioned phrases inspired much confidence in Okeer's cooperation. Still, he did have a lot of combat experience, and he was as close to a scientist as a krogan could possibly get, she figured. She didn't know much about the Blue Suns camp on the planet Korlus – which was a situation that needed remedying – but she was fairly certain that a krogan like Okeer would have been able to escape if he had been there involuntarily.

Which made him even more dangerous. After all, if those Blue Suns had given him some way to cure the genophage, there was no way Okeer would be willing to leave…

And then there was the inevitable conflict between Dr. Solus and Dr. Okeer. Any salarian matched with any krogan would result in a tense situation. But the one who worked on the genophage, and the most fervent opponent would, when combined, most certainly be… explosive.

In more ways than one.

Again, Liara stored the information, for it to be pulled up at a moment's notice whenever it would be more relevant, and opened the next.

 _Jack (no last name known)_

 _-Exceptional biotic ability_

 _-Note: Criminal background, currently in custody_

 _Jack is rumored to be the most powerful human biotic ever encountered. Very little additional data regarding Jack is available, except that the subject has a history of violence and should be approached carefully. Currently, Jack is being held on the turian prisoner ship Purgatory. Cerberus has negotiated for the prisoner's release._

Now, this one was interesting, if nothing else. The fact that this 'Jack' had a criminal background was currently the least of Liara's worries. The _Purgatory_ was nothing but a slave-ship in disguise – she knew because the Shadow Broker had an affinity for sending politically difficult opponents there.

But the name 'Jack' seemed familiar too. If only she could remember from where… Liara opened up her personal database of Cerberus-related information, running a quick search for the name. Most of the results popping up were heavily redacted, but there was enough information there for Liara to piece everything together.

Jack was Subject Zero – the subject of inhumane experiments performed by Cerberus scientists in a remote location, hoping to unlock the secrets to human biotics. Apparently, it had been Cerberus' goal to make humans as adept at displays of biotics as the asari were – something in which they had failed dramatically.

Somehow, the base had gone dark, the subjects had disappeared, and shortly after, so had the scientists. Provided that Jack and Subject Zero were indeed the same persons, this would most likely be one very aggressive, ill-tempered and powerful individual.

And they were sending Shepard into the slave-ship to ask him to work with Cerberus. Obviously, that couldn't possibly go wrong in any way.

Liara frowned at herself, and the remarkable display of sarcasm she had just performed for herself. With a dry chuckle, she figured Shepard had rubbed off more on her than she had anticipated. And more than Liara had influenced her, in all likelihood.

She focused her attention on her console again.

 _Zaeed Massani_

 _-Expert in both personal and small unit combat_

 _-Unparalleled mercenary soldier and bounty hunter_

 _-Known for a willingness to get the job done, no matter the cost_

 _Zaeed Massani is, without a doubt, the most feared mercenary and bounty hunter in the galaxy. Cerberus contacted him, but Massani refused to cooperate unless a ridiculous amount of money were to be transferred into his accounts. Massani currently resides on Omega, but involvement in missions seems unlikely._

Liara stared at the document in front of her for some time. Zaeed Massani, judging by his reputation, was exactly the man Shepard needed on her mission. He was experienced, intelligent, ruthless, cunning. For Cerberus to decide that a fee was too much for them to pay, that fee had to be… quite high, Liara surmised.

It didn't take her that long to stumble upon logs of the discussion between a Cerberus operative and Zaeed Massani, in which he asked for 1.5 million credits. Liara hummed to herself as she thought for a moment. Considering Cerberus had already spent more than three million credits on the Lazarus Project, it made sense for them not to spend this much money on a single man.

Still, if you knew how to handle business, 1.5 million wasn't _that_ difficult to acquire. She could easily skim some of the income of Illium's top politicians – all corrupt anyway. That should get her quite some distance towards the needed fee. If she did the same for some of the businessmen, and maybe a few of the businesses on Thessia, she'd easily manage.

Without even looking at her omni-tool, she called up a connection. "Sekat, I need your help with something."

"I'm busy, Liara. What is it?"

"I need you to accumulate some credits from these accounts," she murmured without flinching at Sekat's harsh tone. "I need it now."

There were a few silent minutes as Sekat sifted through the data Liara was sending him, but she was glad to see that he nodded regularly. "Very well. Give me a few hours."

Again, Liara smiled to herself, returning to the dossier on Massani, and preparing to alter it slightly.

 _Zaeed Massani is, without a doubt, the most feared mercenary and bounty hunter in the galaxy. His services have been retained by Cerberus at extremely high cost. He is currently awaiting pickup on Omega_.

There, that should do it. With all the smoke and mirrors Cerberus put up between their different cells, no one would be suspicious about the sudden clearing of large funds to acquire his services. And even if someone were to become suspicious, the very structure of the organization would keep them from inquiring too intensively.

Only one dossier remaining, and like Massani's, this one had been marked as unviable.

 _Kasumi Goto_

 _-Master of stealth and infiltration_

 _-Skilled hacker and information specialist_

 _-Operates completely off the grid_

 _-No criminal record_

 _Kasumi Goto is not the most famous thief in the galaxy – she's the best. Trained in the arts of stealth and infiltration, she has "acquired" artifacts and information from all over the galaxy and yet maintains a completely clean criminal record. Cerberus has been trying to contact her, but has not found any way to do so as of yet._

Liara had to admit that she had never even heard of this Kasumi Goto. Yet, if what the dossier said about her was true, she was a very promising recruit. Perhaps, Liara thought, she'd be able to do what Cerberus hadn't been able to. All she needed was one little crumb to follow the trail and find the master thief.

Or so she hoped.

* * *

"Hey, Commander. Just like old times, huh?"

Liara smiles as she hears Joker's voice booming from her console. After having spent the majority of her day attempting to track down Kasumi Goto, it was actually kind of relaxing to just sit back and listen in on other people's conversations.

She quickly made a mental note telling herself not to turn into a creep.

She quickly tapped a few buttons on her console, making sure to constantly keep Joker and Shepard in view.

"I can't believe it's you, Joker," she heard Shepard say.

"Look who's talking. I saw you get spaced," Joker replied more casually than Liara had thought possible.

"Got lucky, with a lot of strings attached. How'd you get here?"

"It all fell apart without you, Commander. Everything you stirred up, the Council just wanted it gone."

Goddess, wasn't that the truth, Liara thought bitterly. Even with the poor quality of the surveillance cameras, she could see Shepard thinking what she had thought so often herself: that's what we get for saving the galaxy.

Meanwhile, Joker continued. "Team was broken up, records sealed, and I was grounded. The Alliance took away the only thing that mattered to me. Hell yeah I joined Cerberus."

Liara was glad to hear that Joker didn't reveal his original disinclination towards Cerberus, and the meddling of a nosy asari. Probably better that way.

"You really trust the Illusive Man?"

"I don't trust anyone who makes more than I do. But they aren't all bad. Saved your life. Let me fly… And there's this!"

On her screen, Liara noticed the shutters in front of the large window opening, revealing the Normandy SR-2. She had been poring over the blueprints for the ship numerous times, sometimes until the late hours became early ones. Yet the ship looked larger, and more magnificent, now that she actually saw it for herself.

"They only told me last night," Joker grumbled. Very convincingly, considering Liara had told him about the ship before Cerberus had. "It's good to be home, huh, Commander?"

"I guess we'll have to give her a name."

* * *

"Is it really her?"

It had been mere minutes after Shepard and Joker's boarding of the Normandy SR-2 when Liara received the pilot's call on her secure line. It was a call she had been anticipating eagerly, which was clearly heard in the inflection of her question, fired not even a second after she had accepted the call.

Quite understandably, Joker was slightly taken aback by Liara's swift and sudden questioning. "I err- Hello to you too?"

"Jeff, this isn't-"

"Okay, okay. I know. I joke when I get nervous, but I'll stop."

"Is it her, Joker?"

"I… I think so?"

"You think so?"

"Well, yeah. It's not like I'm a doctor, or a certified psychiatrist or anything. Oh, did you know we have both of tho-"

"Yes, Dr. Chakwas and Kelly Chambers. Who is a psychologist, not a psychiatrist, but that's not the point. You _knew_ Shepard, Joker. Was it her?"

"Ask me again in a while and I'll know, but… yeah. I really think she's back, Liara."

"Thank you," Liara nearly whispered, her voice choking with emotion.

As she disconnected the call and again turned her chair to overlook the trading floor below, she sighed from sheer relief for the first time in what felt like a century, but could really only be a few months. Or maybe a few years. When was the last time she'd had hope?

She knew the answer to that: Right before Shepard had died.

And now, in some incomprehensible way, she was back.


	6. Stolen

**Here's the next chapter, with Kasumi antics and Liara adorableness. I hope y'all enjoy. If so, please, do feel free to follow/fave and/or review. Thanks, and enjoy! :)**

* * *

The Citadel was _the_ place where everyone went when they were looking for anything. It didn't matter whether that was some company for the night, a business relation, employment or maybe just that one article of clothing they couldn't find somewhere else.

Liara figured that if she were to find Kasumi Goto, the Citadel would be the place to start looking. She had also figured that it would take some time to even find a lead, let alone finding the thief herself. If Liara had learned anything from her time with Commander Shepard, it was that humans could be remarkably… crafty.

Liara had booked a room in a hotel on the Presidium for several days, with the possibility of extending her stay if that proved necessary. She had set up her equipment as well, so that she could continue her surveillance of Shepard and the Normandy, as well as continuing her usual business. Meanwhile, Nyxeris would handle any meetings on Illium that Liara could not personally attend.

She had also uncovered a promising possibility to come into more information about the Master Thief: a fence named Jinoln Surlan – a salarian operating out of the lower wards – that had, reportedly, done business with her recently. Liara would have to pay him a personal visit. Hopefully, he'd be willing to point her in Miss Goto's direction. If not, Liara had prepared a neat little blackmail file.

But first, she needed to contact the Pirate Queen. Shepard was on her way to Omega this very moment, and Liara doubted she'd be welcomed there warmly without making some preparations. And while Liara would normally be reluctant to cash in her one favor from the powerful asari so shortly after having received it, that reluctance was nowhere to be found if her actions could make Shepard's life, and mission, easier.

"Anto," came the gruff voice mere seconds after Liara had established a connection.

"I need to speak to Aria."

There were several seconds of static silence before the gruff voice replied. "She's busy."

"It's important," Liara urged, rolling her eyes at the batarian henchman, even though he obviously couldn't see it.

"I said, she's busy."

"Tell her Dr. T'Soni is asking for her."

There was some mumbling on the background, after which there was some rustling sound. Finally, Aria's voice sounded over her omni-tool. "This better be important, T'Soni. I was enjoying that dancer."

Liara scoffed slightly, yet also smiling at the display of arrogance and authority. "I'm cashing in the favor you promised."

"Already?" came Aria's smug reply. Liara could just imagine her leaning forward on her couch, eyes shining with mirth.

"It's important, yes," Liara sighed, knowing that Aria wouldn't make this easy.

"I see… So what do you need? Red Sand? Credits? Information?"

"Assistance."

"Ah, this should be interesting, then. Does the good doctor need someone killed?"

"She does not," Liara responded dryly. "The assistance isn't for me, but for a… friend."

"Must be a _very_ good friend, for you to exchange your favor now."

"Commander Shepard is on her way to Omega."

"Commander Shepard is dead," Aria replied deadpan.

"Not anymore," Liara answered in much the same fashion.

"I see. What is it she needs, then?"

Liara had to give Aria credit for taking the impossible in her stride remarkably easily. It was almost as if people told her that the dead had risen on a daily basis. But when thinking about it, it _was_ Aria, and maybe it wasn't all that special for her.

"She'll need information."

"And?"

"You know everything that happens on Omega. I'd like you to point her in the right direction."

Aria hummed as she seemed to be considering the request. "I can do that."

"She'll also need to be kept safe," Liara continued diligently.

"That's two favors, doc," Aria mocked. "And besides, last I checked, Shepard killed an army of geth and then blew up half the Citadel. I don't think she'll need a bodyguard."

Liara sighed. That was exactly the problem. Shepard had the unreasonable tendency to take on armies and get herself into trouble. More often than not resulting in serious injuries for herself and those that surrounded her. While she could take care of herself, sometimes it just seemed as if she didn't _want_ to.

"Just look after her, T'Loak," Liara said, sounding as authoritative as she possibly could.

"Fine, fine," Aria sighed. "No need to get all worked up. I'll keep your girlfriend safe."

"She's _not_ my girlfriend!" Liara pouted, quite glad that Aria couldn't actually _see_ her.

"Oh? I seem to recall otherwise…"

"It's… complicated!"

"Whatever you say, doc."

"One more thing," Liara said, almost making it sound as an afterthought. "I need access to Omega's security footage."

Aria laughed freely this time. "What makes you think Omega _has_ security? We're lawless, remember?"

"Yes, so you say. But you and I both know you have a surveillance network in place. And I need-"

The sound of the call ending came suddenly, but not entirely unexpectedly. Liara knew that she had been pushing her luck with Aria by asking three favors. Still, getting two out of three wasn't a bad deal.

* * *

"Jinoln Surlan?"

"Depends who's asking," the salarian replied without turning around.

"Hopefully, a friend," Liara answered vaguely, leaning down on the counter of the decrepit little business Surlan called a store. "A friend in need."

"I see. What can I get you?"

"Information, hopefully."

"Ah, expensive commodity," the salarian immediately fired back.

"Not a problem."

"Good. What do you need to know?"

"I'm looking for someone. A thief going by the name of Kasumi Goto."

Not entirely unexpected, the salarian immediately tensed up, suspiciously squinting his abnormally large eyes. "Never heard of her. Now go away."

"I know she's been here. You two discussed… business."

"I told you I never heard of her. Now leave me alone."

"I know other things too," Liara started, her voices lowering. "Like the deal you made with Vaam'Shelom vas Minil… I'm certain C-Sec would be interested in the specifics of your… arrangement."

"How did you- Ah, never mind. Miss Goto was here, but isn't anymore."

"I can see that. Where might I find her?"

"How would I know? She hasn't remained uncaught by announcing her intentions to anyone she passes by."

"What did you discuss?"

"She wanted information. About a valuable object."

"And that object would be…?"

The salarian attempted to stare her down, but a small wave of the datapad in her right hand seemed to convince him otherwise. After a large sigh, he dipped his head. "A golden statue of the rogue Spectre, Saren Arterius."

Liara grimaced visibly at the idea of a golden statue of Saren. The man that had served Sovereign, unleashed the geth onto the Citadel, and, albeit indirectly, was responsible for the death of her mother, Matriarch Benezia.

"Yes, I know. Not a pretty sight. Wonder what Miss Goto wants with it. Didn't ask. Don't know anything else. Now go," the salarian immediately continued.

Liara merely nodded curtly as a reply. Surely, finding a golden statue of Saren was something that she could manage herself.

* * *

As it turned out, finding the aforementioned statue was as simple as could be. It was located on the Presidium, in a large shop that focused on historical memorabilia. As far as Liara could see, however, getting close to the statue was near-impossible.

It was positioned in a transparent but totally secluded vault at the back of the store, where three krogan guards continually stood guard, two on each side of the panel, and one walking back and forth between them. In order to open the vault's door, one would need the security keycard from the shop's owner, as well as the security code to disengage the lock.

All in all, Liara considered while studying a model-replica of the Destiny Ascension, the security was wholly inadequate for dealing with someone of Kasumi Goto's stature. If stories were to be believed, and Liara was certain that some of them were, Goto had broken into vaults where the security was at least three times as heavy. Which left her with only one option.

"Excuse me, how much for the statue?" she asked as soon as the salesman was available.

"The statue, miss?"

"The big one, in the back?"

The salesman looked towards the golden statue for a moment, before returning his attention to Liara. "I'm terribly sorry. The statue has already been… promised, to an interested party."

Liara frowned for a moment, before making a drastic decision. "I'll double the offer if I can take it with me right now."

Within minutes, she found herself face to face with the shop's owner, an enterprising volus. After a long-winded explanation, which basically boiled down to 'I'm taking a big risk, but since you're paying, it's yours,' Liara was finally allowed to have her krogan employers take the statue to a personal vault in the most secure location of the Citadel: the Inter-Galactic Irune Bank.

"I'd also like this model of the Ascension," Liara added casually, watching the truck with Saren's likeness floating away. "And wrap it up, please. It's a gift for a friend."

As they concluded their business, and Liara made to leave the shop, she heard the volus behind her. "Strange. Must have misplaced my security card…"

Clearly, she had been here just in time, Liara figured. If Kasumi already had started her heist, she'd have to take extra measures…

When Liara finally returned to the room she had rented, she felt confident that Kasumi wouldn't get to the statue. Not easily, at least. She had stationed three bodyguards – former asari commandos – inside her vault, which had earned her a few strange looks from the volus helping her. She had also insisted that they activate _every_ security measure installed in and near her vault, including those in the vaults bordering on hers. After that, she had left, but not before telling the employees that no one, absolutely _no one_ , was to enter her vault until she'd return in the morning.

She had also sent her gift for Shepard – the model of the Destiny Ascension – to Omega, and asked Joker to make sure it would be picked up and delivered to Shepard when they arrived. The pilot had cooed and aww'ed for a considerably time before promising he'd take care of it.

It being the asari flagship, Liara figured it would be a subtle hint, reminding Shepard of her and their relationship, and, hopefully, letting her know that Liara still thought about her. That, or it would just be a neat gift to flourish the stale captain's quarters up a little…

For now, however, Liara just had to focus, and wait for Kasumi Goto to attempt the heist of her statue, which would hopefully leave her with an opportunity to contact the thief. With all the additional planning the Master Thief would have to do to be able to even get close to the statue, it would surely take a few days. That left her enough time to plan the specifics of her plan tomorrow…

* * *

It was hard to tell when dealing with volus, but the man in front of her looked… surprised.

"Pardon me, Dr. T'Soni?"

"I said I'd like to see my vault," Liara repeated, barely hiding her annoyance.

"Of course, but why would you-"

"I'm in a bit of a hurry," she interrupted snappily. Despite her firm belief that everything was going according to plan, she had not slept as well as she had hoped. It hadn't been her intention to take it out on the employees of the bank, though.

"Follow me, Dr. T'Soni," the volus murmured under his breath.

The volus led her to the vault, at as fast a pace as his little legs could carry him, undoubtedly. Once there, she found her three asari guards standing outside, casually chatting with one another, but immediately acknowledging their employer once they noticed her.

"Why are you not inside?" Liara asked, confused by everyone's odd behavior.

"Why would we?" the eldest of them replied as the volus opened the vault door. Everything became considerably clearer, though, once the door was open. The giant golden statue of Saren Arterius was… gone. Nowhere to be found.

"You came by halfway during the night," the volus told her, heavy breaths in between his words. "Told us there was a security breach, and that your movers were taking the statue to another location."

"I did no such thing," Liara immediately balked. The asari guards, however, nodded their agreement with the volus. Soon, she was confronted by the video feeds on his omni-tool, clearly showing her entering her own vault.

Despite the direness of the situation, or maybe because of that direness, Liara had to laugh, bringing a hand to her forehead as she did so. Of course. How could she have been this stupid. She should have expected that the extra security measures would be child's play for the illustrious Miss Goto. She had thought herself so smart, moving the statue here, but she had made the same mistake everyone else had: she had underestimated her opponent.

"You're free to go," she told the asari commandos, already turning around to leave the bank. "And I won't be needing my vault anymore."

Liara was halfway on her way towards the Presidium Commons when she heard it.

"Hello, Dr. T'Soni. Over here!"

She turned around, looking over her shoulder, but didn't seen anyone nearby.

"No, not there. Here!"

She turned again, looking at the window, and seeing the skycars zipping by. "Getting closer. A little to your left, Doctor."

Following the mysterious instructions brought her to an unassuming commercial cone, the image of which had turned to display a figure, though all details were obscured by the shadows. "Hello," the figure chirped happily. "I'm really sorry about stealing your statue of Saren, but I already had my eyes on it before you took it away. No hard feelings, right?"

Liara felt ridiculous, talking to an inanimate piece of technology, but did so nonetheless, looking around to find the source of the transmission. "Not really. I had hoped to meet you, though."

"I suspected as much," came the happy reply as the silhouette on the screen seemed to turn around, pacing from left to right. "But you're meeting me now, aren't you?"

"Indeed," Liara smiled as she walked away from the cone, seemingly unnoticed. "I had thought of a face-to-face meeting, though."

"Meeting face to face is too risky in this business, I'm afraid," the figure apologized. "I'm sure you understand."

Liara merely hummed in reply, smiling to herself as the Master Thief erupted in a long-winded, rambling explanation of the dangers of her profession. It didn't take Liara long to find the _actual_ Kasumi Goto, strutting around on the maintenance catwalks, seemingly becoming more and more agitated as her speech continued, the omni-tool on her forearm seeming forgotten entirely.

Liara gently cleared her throat, catching her attention. "If you're quite done up there, could you come down?"

Confused, the thief, clad in a letter suit with her hood covering most of her face, looked at her omni-tool. "I can't believe I didn't notice…" she murmured to herself.

"Well, you seemed pretty… occupied," Liara smiled, watching the thief jumping down from the catwalk with remarkable grace and agility.

"I'm sorry about stealing your statue, but I need it and-"

"Don't worry, I won't call C-Sec."

"Oh, you won't?"

"I was part of the team that _fought_ Saren. Do you really think I'd like a large, golden statue of my mother's murderer in my living room?"

"Hm, probably not," Kasumi piped. "But then why move it to your vault?"

"I was hoping to lure you into a trap. It appears I underestimated you."

"Don't worry, most people do," the thief smiled smugly. "How did you convince the volus cheapskate to let you take it away anyway?"

"I bought it," Liara simply replied.

"You _bought_ it?"

"Yes?"

"It was crazy expensive!"

"Yes, I know," Liara smiled. "Contrary to some people, I actually pay for my purchases."

"You must be very rich," Kasumi smiled coyly. "Remind me to write down your address."

"Unless you're interested in prothean artifacts, there isn't much of worth to take from my apartment."

"There's a market for that," Kasumi shrugged casually.

"I was actually hoping to tempt you with credits. I have a job for you."

"A heist?"

"Not exactly," Liara said hesitantly. "A friend of mine needs help saving the galaxy. It would pay… handsomely."

"Sounds interesting," Kasumi said, her smile fading away. "Unfortunately, I have business of my own that I need to take care of. There's something I need to recover. It's of vital importance."

Liara nodded. "Commander Shepard can help you with that, if you accept my offer."

"Commander Shepard? Well, this might actually be interesting…"

The next thirty minutes, Liara spent explaining the situation of missing colonies to Kasumi, followed by explanations of the Collectors' involvement, Cerberus' revival of Commander Shepard, and the mission she was currently undertaking to stop the abductions.

By the end of the explanation, Kasumi's eyes seemed to sparkle with serious intent. "So, if I sign up for this mission, you'll pay me for it?"

"Naturally."

"And I get to keep whatever I can steal during the mission?"

"As far as I'm concerned, yes."

"And I get to tease you with your obsession over your girlfriend, all the time?"

"Yes- Wait, what did you say?"

"Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" Kasumi cheered, practically vibrating in her seat. "Where do I meet her?"

Liara groaned, lowering her head into her hands. "Just stay on the Citadel for a while. I'm sure Shepard will come by soon enough."

"Works for me. If you need to contact me, I'll contact you," Kasumi smiled impishly as she got up from her seat and turned away. "I've also taken the liberty of intercepting your package to Commander Shepard, and arranging a more… direct delivery."

Liara was about to fire off in a heated rant on Kasumi's action when the woman suddenly disappeared into thin air. For a moment, her mischievous giggle could still be heard, but after a few seconds, Liara simply _knew_ that she was alone.

* * *

"Commander? I think you might want to come to the bridge for a moment?" Joker's voice rang over the intercom.

Allison Shepard looked to the ceiling for a moment before getting up from her desk and taking the lift down to the CIC. Halfway there, it stopped to allow Miranda in, who had apparently gotten curious. Understandable, really.

"What is it, Joker?" she asked as she marched up to his chair.

"We're being hailed by that ship."

"Why?" Miranda immediately asked.

"Dunno," Joker shrugged. "They're asking for Shepard, though."

"No one knows we brought Shepard back," Miranda cautioned.

"Open a line, Joker," Shepard commanded. Trustworthy or not, she was awfully curious what all this was about.

"This is Captain Reginald Tudge of the Arcturian Jade. We carry a package for Commander A. Shepard of the SSV Normandy SR-2."

After that message, the Normandy broke out into somewhat of a fuss. Miranda demanded that they ignore the ship, and preferably shoot it to make sure it wouldn't do them any harm. Joker thought she was being ridiculous, because, what harm could a package possible be? Jacob Taylor told Joker that _he_ was being ridiculous, yet he also thought Miranda was being ridiculous, and the entire situation was only serving to give Shepard a headache.

"Joker, have them send someone over on a shuttle to deliver the package. EDI, be ready to scan anything that comes near us for anything dangerous."

"Yes, Commander," came EDI's synthetic voice. Miranda walked off, shaking her head and obviously displeased, while Jacob saluted and returned to his exercises in the Armory. After a few minutes, the airlock opened, revealing a human of average age, holding a gift-wrapped box with a bow around it.

"Commander Shepard?"

"That's me," Allison said, giving the man an awkward wave.

"I was instructed to… ahem… 'thank you for using Goto Deliveries.' And that's all I was allowed to say."

"Who's it from?" she asked curtly.

"Couldn't tell you if I wanted to, Commander. I got the parcel from a turian woman, who got it from a batarian, who got it from a human that might have gotten it from a hanar, but I'm not sure about that part. Anyway, long story short, I don't know."

Shepard thanked the man as she took the gift and walked back towards the lift. Yeoman Kelly Chambers looked at her with a suspicious little smile, but didn't approach her. Shepard had half a mind to ask what she was thinking, but the curiosity for the gift was making her hands itchy, so she stepped into the lift as soon as she could.

"Commander, I do not detect any hazardous materials."

"Thank you, EDI."

Shepard sat down at her desk – the exact spot where she had been sitting moments ago – and unceremoniously started ripping the wrapping off the gift. Once all of it was revealed, she realized that it was a small-scale model of the Destiny Ascension – an asari dreadnought, and the flagship of the asari warfleet.

The ship she and her crew had saved from Sovereign and the geth.

She took the model out of its box, gently placing it on her desk. As she sat there, staring at it and wondering who could have sent it, her mind slowly started drifting.

"Liara…" she mused to herself, confident in the fact that she was alone. For obvious reasons, the Destiny Ascension made her think of her asari girlfriend – if she could still call her that after two years. The cute way she blushed, and how she would inevitable end up saying something incredibly awkward whenever she got flustered.

Shepard laughed to herself gently as she recalled a particular conversation, in which Liara had put her foot in her mouth, and tried to make things right by calling her an interesting research subject. Naturally, she had immediately realized that only made things worse…

Shepard still thought it was a miracle that they had eventually ended up making love, right before going to Ilos. She was certain that, even if she'd have the lifespan of an asari and a krogan combined, she'd _always_ remember that night.

If only things hadn't gone so horribly wrong shortly after, they might have repeated that night. Again, she laughed to herself, wiping the wistful tears from her eyes as she traced a finger over the Destiny Ascension. She looked around her desk for a moment, finally figuring out what was missing.

Taking one of the datapads from the drawer, she quickly found a picture of Dr. Liara T'Soni on the extranet, immediately downloading it and displaying it full-screen. As she placed it on her desk and looked at the picture, she felt a little better. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but at least it was something.

"I wonder where you are now, Liara…" she said softly, staring intently at the photograph. "I wish you could be here, with me. We've been through so much… but I'm not sure I can do this without you…" There was a long silence, during which Shepard merely stared at the picture of her love. "Goodnight, Liara. Wherever you are," she whispered with a stroke over the picture, after which she made her way to her bed.

Little did she know that the asari had heard her every word, and seen her every move, back in her room on the Citadel. With teary eyes and a broken voice, she whispered goodnight back, knowing that there was no way Shepard could hear her.


	7. Questions

**Merry Christmas, everyone! Okay, short confession: I'm a total Christmas-freak. I love everything that has to do with Christmas. And it is my personal belief that everyone should try and do something for those around them and dear to them. And, despite the fact I don't know a single one of you by name (okay, that's a lie, I know a few of you by name, but shush), you are all very dear to me.**

 **Over the past year, you have all showered me with appreciation, support, gratefulness and kindness. As a little 'thank you,' I've decided to update all of my stories simultaneously as a small Christmas gift to y'all. Enjoy your holidays, you awesome people, and y'all will hear more from me in 2016! ;)**

* * *

Miranda could not help but frown as she pushed away from her desk and walked over to the only window in her office. Something was very, very wrong. She enjoyed playing games – life itself was a game, in which you simply had to overcome every hurdle thrown at you to get ahead and win. It was why she excelled at everything she did, and why Cerberus valued her so much. Which, in turn, was why she had been appointed to lead the Lazarus cell.

But now there was someone else playing her game. And while Miranda liked games, she could not stand unknowns. Not knowing who was playing made it impossible to anticipate their next move. Were they friend or foe? Did they know of their mission? Did they know where they were right now?

Being approached by an unknown ship had been troubling enough as it was – their stealth drive should have made it all but impossible to find them, after all. However, when the captain of said ship actually asked for Commander Shepard… well, that had been unexpected, and much, much more troubling. After all, only a _very_ select few people knew of her resurrection. Cerberus had wanted to keep it like that. For now.

 _Goto_. Miranda knew the name, of course. Kasumi Goto was not famous, which was exactly why she was as good at her job as she was. The greatest thief in the galaxy, people called her. Well, that was, the people who actually knew of her existence, Miranda thought with a wry smile. She knew for a fact that Cerberus had considered her as part of Shepard's team. She would have made a good candidate, had they been able to find her.

And now she had somehow found them, and given Shepard this ridiculous mystery gift that the Commander didn't want to disclose anything about, other than it being _personal_. There was no room for personal on this mission. When she had pointed that out to the grumpy redhead, she had been told to mind her place. Right: Shepard was in charge, Miranda was to follow orders.

What had the Illusive Man been thinking, setting up _these_ arrangements?

Still… Miranda was certain that Kasumi Goto had not acted alone. She was a master thief, yes. She had connections, undoubtedly. She was good at what she did, that was fact. But Miranda refused to believe that she would have been able to find the Normandy. At least, not without help.

Which seemed to confirm Miranda's suspicions: someone was keeping an eye on them, orchestrating this whole thing from behind the scenes. She had suspected it ever since the attack on Lazarus Station. Wilson had worked for the Shadow Broker – the video logs had confirmed that. They had known the Shadow Broker was after Shepard's body – mostly due to the involvement of that naïve asari scientist, Liara T'Soni.

But Miranda was certain that the Shadow Broker, despite all of his power and influences – was not the person she was looking for now. After all, _someone_ had disclosed Wilson's betrayal to her by activating those terminals on the top-secret, highly-classified, need-to-know Cerberus station. Someone who had wanted her to survive the attack, judging by the deactivation of the security mechs.

The stunt this mysterious figure had pulled required high-level access to Cerberus databanks, as well as access to the surveillance footage of Lazarus station – otherwise, how would he have known when to activate which terminals, and which mechs to deactivate?

When she had shared this information with the Illusive Man – right after their return from Freedom's Progress – he had appeared both amused and concerned. He had also given her the order to look into it, and do whatever necessary to find out who it had been.

Miranda had pulled every trick she knew to try and trace the hacks. She had used the most advanced technical tools Cerberus had at their disposal. She had invested copious amounts of time, and asked contacts for information and advice. And yet, despite all that, she had only been able to narrow it done by very little. All she knew was that the hacks originated somewhere in the Terminus Systems. Possibly, but of this she could not be certain, somewhere near the borders of asari space.

That only left a few hundred planets as viable options. And without any ways of narrowing it down, Cerberus did not have enough resources or manpower to do anything, other than waiting. For now, Miranda had decided, she had to make sure that security aboard the Normandy was air-tight.

She had ordered Yeoman Chambers to interview everyone aboard the ship as soon as possible, making sure that there were no traitors amongst the crew. If the Alliance caught wind of what they were doing – and they would soon enough – they would be sure to try and penetrate their operation somehow.

"Miranda," Commander Shepard's voice came over the intercom in her office. "Joker's about to dock us at Omega. Make sure you're ready to head out in half an hour." Then the click of disconnecting.

Didn't even wait for a confirmation. Miranda sighed – she severely disliked Omega, and she most certainly had better things to do than run around chasing after some salarian. Even if that salarian was the solution to the Collector threat. Which, in her mind, was a rather large 'if.'

Slowly walking back to her desk, she leaned down and entered her password. A few clicks brought her to a new screen, where she had to input a second password. Immediately after, the prompt for a third password followed. Finally, she reached her destination.

Her brows furrowed even further. She should have known this would happen sooner or later. Hell, she _had_ known this would happen. She would have to contact Niket and Lanteia as soon as possible. For a split-second, she considered doing it straight away. But no, making the necessary arrangements would take more than half an hour, and it wouldn't do to anger Shepard.

Not right now, at least.

* * *

Liara sighed as she walked back into her room on the Citadel. She had spent the majority of her morning on a wild goose-chase around the Presidium, leading down to the Zakera Ward, then towards the docking bays, only to end up back on the Presidium.

Apparently, Kasumi Goto had thought it would be funny to steal her framed image of Shepard. Naturally, Liara had done everything she could to get it back, but every time she thought she was getting close to the thief, she had just smiled, waved, and cloaked again.

As the door slid closed behind her, she heard the beeping of her console in the corner. A small smile cracked over her lips as she noticed the picture of Shepard, snuggly sitting next to the screen and the glass of water she had poured herself before the wild hunt had started.

Kasumi wasn't a bad person, really. Mostly just bored.

As her equipment came to life, Liara noticed that she had, somehow, acquired a new surveillance channel. One that she had not set up herself. Her smile only grew wider when she saw the dim-lit 'office' of Aria T'Loak on her screen, the asari casually lounging on her couch. Just then, she got up, a mocking little smile on her face as she waved at the camera.

Liara almost failed to repress the urge to wave back.

It wasn't long before Liara saw three figures walking on-screen, one of whom was most certainly Allison Shepard. The others had their backs turned toward the camera, but could only be Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor.

"That's close enough," Aria's voice came over Liara's speakers, freezing Shepard in her tracks.

There was a tense moment where everyone was pointing guns at… well, everyone. Nonetheless, Liara was not too worried. Aria had promised to look after Shepard – and one could say whatever they wanted about the asari criminal, but she did keep her promises. Usually.

"They're clean," one of the henchmen, an ugly looking batarian, muttered sheepishly.

"You run Omega?" Shepard asked, causing her query to laugh out loud and turn around.

"I _am_ Omega," she said, her arms spread out wide as she overlooked the club below her. Liara couldn't help rolling her eyes at the theatrics. "But you need more. Everyone needs more something. And they all come to me. I'm the boss, CEO, queen if you're feeling dramatic. It doesn't matter. Omega has no titled ruler and only one rule." Here, the elder asari paused for a moment, taking her time to get seated on her throne-like couch again. "Don't fuck with Aria."

It was clear that Aria was trying to intimidate the Commander and her companions. Liara smiled as Shepard just shrugged. "I like it. Easy to remember."

"If you forget, someone will remind you."

Finally, Shepard took a seat on the couch as well.

"So, what can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for Mordin Solus. Do you know where I can find him?"

Liara had expected Shepard and her crew to go after the doctor first. It was the logical step to take, seeing as they needed some sort of counter-measure to be able to take the Collectors on. The fact that The Illusive Man had all but ordered them to didn't make the predictions any harder, though.

"The salarian doctor? Last I heard he was trying to help plague victims in the quarantine zone. I always liked Mordin. He's as likely to heal you as he is to shoot you."

"That's exactly the issue I have with him," Liara muttered to herself, unheard by anyone.

"What can you tell me about him?" Shepard asked, looking remarkably calm and collected on that ratty couch in Afterlife. Liara distinctly remembered feeling much less at ease when she had been there.

"Used to be part of the Salarian Special Tasks Group. He's brilliant and dangerous. Just don't get him talking. He never shuts up. If you really need to find him, take a shuttle to the quarantine zone. No guarantee they'll let you in, of course."

As she kept an eye on the video playing on her screen, Liara brought her hands to the keys of her second console, already attempting to gain access to the STG files on the salarian doctor. If she could just figure out what kind of work he'd done with the top-secret STG, she might know what to be wary of.

And just like that, the conversation between Shepard and Aria was over. Liara had expected Shepard to ask about Archangel next, but apparently she only wanted to tackle one target at a time. Which certainly sounded like Shepard. Always so goal-oriented, it almost made her blind to alternative courses of action.

For a moment, her console seemed to glitch. Liara was about to panic – she really couldn't use anyone trying to hack her right now – when everything restored itself again. Everything was as it should be, except for the fact that a few hundred surveillance channels had been added to her list. All of them from Omega.

Moments later, she received a message on her omni-tool. "Now it's you who owes me a favor, sweetheart," it read. Looking back at the screen, she was just in time to see Aria deactivating her omni-tool and winking at the camera.

"I like her," a female voice said, right behind her ear. The shock caused Liara to jump upwards, slamming her knee into the desk and softly cursing under her breath. "By the Goddess, Kasumi! How long have you been standing there?"

Kasumi merely cocked her hooded head to the side. "Oh, you hadn't noticed me?" she asked coyly. "That's funny. You almost tripped over me on your way in."

* * *

"It's just a routine screening, Kenneth, nothing to be worried about. The Yeoman sent everyone a message with the schedule. Everyone needs to talk to her, even Operator Lawson."

"I don't fancy her for talking to Lawson. That woman scares me half to hell," Kenneth Donnelly replied under his breath. "Just make it short, I could really use your help with the maintenance of those couplings."

"I'll be back before you know it," Gabriella replied, waving her hand over her shoulder as she walked out of Engineering. She held her breath all the way to the elevator. Once the doors slid closed, she finally let it go.

Yeoman Chambers' office was tucked away in one of the far corners of the Normandy, and it really wasn't anything to write home about. Still, the yeoman looked remarkably happy and proud of it when Gabriella walked in, which probably said something about her previous office.

"Ah, Engineer Daniels, take a seat please," the redhead said, smile in place and motioning towards the only available chair in the small space.

There was a lingering silence while the yeoman looked over some file on her desk. Daniels could only assume that it was her personnel file. "So, Gabriella," the woman started, her eyes still trained on the file. "Can I call you Gabriella?"

A muted nod was all she could muster in response. When the yeoman looked up at her, she repeated the motion.

"That's good. Do you know why I was ordered to have these meetings with everyone?"

She offered a silent shake of her head in response.

"Well," the woman drawled. "Operator Lawson believes that someone has tried – or is trying – to infiltrate this operation."

Shit. Gabby felt her posture stiffening as her eyebrows shot up to her hairline. This was bad. "O-oh really?"

"Really," the yeoman said, nodding her head gravely as she leaned back in her seat. "I've been asked to ensure that there are no leaks aboard the Normandy."

"I see." She knew her responses were clipped and, if one paid enough attention, sounded a little strained. But she couldn't help it – she was an engineer, not some kind of trained spy or infiltration operative. What had Liara T'Soni been thinking, recruiting _her_ of all people?

"I really don't think there's much use talking to you," the yeoman continued across from her. "After all, what use would someone from Engineering be to an outside party?"

At those demeaning words, delivered with such a casual yet pitying smile, Gabriella Daniels felt herself sitting up more straight. "I'll have you know that Engineer Donnelly and I are the most knowledgeable people about the engines of this ship. If someone wanted to take this ship out, they would need _our_ help!" she countered, feeling immensely proud of her reply.

Until she saw the smile of the woman in front of her shifting from pitying to gleeful. "Does that mean that you have had contact with anyone outside this operation about your function aboard this ship?"

"W-what? No! I… I didn't say that!"

"You seemed to imply it just now."

"I did not!" she paused briefly, confusion overtaking her. "Did I?"

Kelly Chambers merely raised her eyebrows at her, grin still in place.

"No, I definitely didn't."

And just like that, her smile disappeared, and she was completely serious again. "Okay, that's good. Tell me, why did you join Cerberus?"

Gabby released a long breath, taking her time to formulate her answer. "Following Commander Shepard's death and the Alliance's unfair treatment of her legacy, Kenneth – Engineer Donnelly – wanted to leave the Alliance, and he got an offer from Cerberus. Kenneth and I always worked together – we've been together ever since we started studying, even – and he'd be completely lost without me. He wouldn't admit it, of course, men never do. But yeah, when he got the job offer, I tagged along."

Chambers got up from her chair, seating herself on the corner of her desk. "So, what you're saying is that you have no loyalty or love for Cerberus, but only for your friend?"

Gabby resisted a groan, because that would certainly not go across very well. She did not at all like how this conversation was going. "No, that's not what I meant. Okay, sure, Kenneth is my first priority, but Cerberus is definitely the second."

"And what about Commander Shepard?"

"Wait, wait. Commander Shepard is the second, and Cerberus is the third," she corrected herself.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." Sort of.

"So you would follow any order Cerberus gives you?"

Gabby took a moment to consider her reply, determined not to get trapped again. "Within reason," she eventually said, looking up at her interrogator defiantly, ready to parry whatever response she would get.

Kelly Chambers did not come with a sharp response, though. She merely nodded, getting up from the desk and sitting back in the chair. "So you would not go against direct orders?"

"Again, within reason."

"Say, the order to keep classified information to yourself, for instance?"

"I'm sworn to secrecy," Gabby said, feeling her lie to be completely convincing.

Again, Chambers nodded for a while, seemingly thinking about her next question.

"That's good, because _someone_ accused you of placing unauthorized monitoring devices across the ship," she deadpanned eventually.

"What?" Gabby couldn't believe her ears. She'd been _alone_ on the Normandy when she had placed those devices for Dr. T'Soni. She had even made sure that EDI had been deactivated at the time. There was _no_ way _anyone_ could have seen her. Or was there? "Who?"

"That's not really relevant," Chambers muttered, frown firmly in place as she gave Gabby a stern once-over. "We've found said devices in several places – the med-bay, cockpit, CIC, and, for some reason, the Captain's Quarters."

"I don't know anything about that," Daniels immediately defended herself.

She felt a wave of relief washing over her as she looked at Chambers. The look in her eyes somehow set her at ease, and she was certain that she believed her lie. "I'm very glad to hear that. I already suspected Engineer Donnelly to be the mole. At least now I'm certain."

 _Oh no._

"Okay, it was me." The words were out before she had realized she'd taken the decision. Or maybe she hadn't made a decision. Was there really any decision to be made? Kenneth was priority number one, always had been, always would be. She couldn't let him take the fall for something he hadn't done. She could hardly even let him take the fall for something he _had_ done…

Chambers shook her head. "It's admirable, trying to defend your friend, sticking up for him like this. But there really isn't any need to lie. He made a mistake, and he will have to own up to that mistake himself, Engineer Daniels."

There was a moment of silence between them, Chambers seeming at ease with the solution of this debacle, Daniels merely being flabbergasted that the yeoman had believed her lies, but wouldn't believe her now that she was telling the truth.

"I swear it was me. I was contacted on the Citadel, shortly before we were called in for duty. Dr. Liara T'Soni from Illium asked me to place those devices so she could keep an eye on Commander Shepard. I swear I meant no harm. Engineer Donnelly didn't know anything about this."

Just as quickly as her demeanor had turned serious a few minutes ago, a sly grin spread across Chambers' face now. "I know," was her simple reply, looking entirely too pleased with herself.

"You know?"

"I've known all along," the woman shrugged. "You did not really think Dr. T'Soni only recruited _one_ of the crewmembers of the SSV Normandy, did you?"

"I- but- it's just- we- You?"

The sly grin spread even wider. "Me."

"So we?"

"We're on the same side," Chambers said, grin finally shrinking away. Clearly, her play-time was over. "I was just having some fun with you, trying to see how long you would last."

"Are there any others?"

Chambers looked at the ceiling for a moment. "I think so. Mess Sergeant Gardner has been acting a little off. And it would make sense for Dr. T'Soni to have approached Mr. Moreau and Dr. Chakwas… Don't know if there are any others, though."

There were a few silent minutes shared between them. "Can I… Can I go now?"

"Yes, you can," Chambers replied. "And don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

"You won't tell Dr. T'Soni?"

Chambers smiled again, a hint of her previous mischief returning. "I don't think Dr. T'Soni is particularly interested in your infatuation with Engineer Donnelly."

As she turned towards the door, Gabby felt her cheeks heating up. Of course the yeoman had picked up on that, perceptive as she was. Just before the door opened, she heard Chambers calling her name.

"Is there really surveillance equipment in the Captain's Quarters?" the yeoman asked with an amused-yet-puzzled look.

Gabby decided that _this_ was one secret she'd keep to herself.


	8. Favors

This was surely a form of torture.

Liara had access to all the security feeds of Omega. She could see very step Shepard and her crew took towards the quarantine zone, she could hear how she argued her way inside, and she could follow her steps past the barricades.

She could watch how she walked head-first into danger.

And she couldn't do anything to keep her safe.

She almost – almost, mind you – wished Aria had _not_ given her access to the feeds. Another, more protective part of her just wanted to call Aria right now, and ask her to send an army of mercenaries to back Shepard.

She knew Aria would refuse, of course. She already owed the Pirate Queen a favour, and the asari would surely remind her of that many times to come. And it also wasn't like Shepard really _needed_ an army at her back.

She'd only be facing some Blue Suns mercenaries. Just turians and batarians in fancy, colourful armour. Oh, and the Blood Pack mercenaries too, of course. Vorcha and krogan. And whatever looters the Commander ran into, but those surely wouldn't be a problem. Of course, there were the mechs stationed around the clinic, but if all went well, those would not be hostile.

And then there was the sociopathic salarian doctor that could probably kill anyone he wanted with some exotic disease. Or a few rounds from his large-caliber handgun.

Yeah, Shepard would be fine.

She also had Miranda and Jacob at her back. Although Liara was not entirely sure that was a good thing for the Commander. Especially Miranda could be somewhat of an issue.

Okay, so getting all antsy and nervous would not serve anyone. Liara knew that. Ripping her attention away from her first console, just as Shepard knelt down and applied medi-gel to a dying batarian, she turned on her other station and started getting some work done.

First things first, she had to see how Miss Lawson was faring in her pursuit to find her. Her nearly-unlimited access to the Normandy really did turn out to be a blessing, but Lawson's office was one of the few areas that had proven to be nigh-impenetrable. She apparently did not trust Cerberus' standard security protocols to be enough, and had added several of her own.

Liara could access the computer in her office, but never got much farther than the screensaver – a blurry picture with several indistinguishable figures huddled together.

That was about to change, though. Ever since she had started working as an information broker, she had learned several tricks that allowed her to penetrate cyber-defences, and while she was far from the most skilled hacker, she certainly knew what she was doing.

Or so she thought.

"It really would be easier if you just override the back-up port of the secondary encryption," a voice whispered in her ear.

It spoke to the development in their relationship that Liara didn't even flinch – or jump, or scream, or blindly throw a biotic field – and merely raised an eyebrow. "Hello to you too, Kasumi," she muttered dryly, eyes shooting back to her first screen at the sound of gunfire.

"Oh, the Commander is a good shot. That's re-assuring," the thief remarked airily. "You should focus on your hack, though. Their security is about to toss you-"

There was a loud bleeping sound as Liara's screen turned red. "…out," Kasumi finished lamely. "Well… I suppose that was to be expected. Really, how did you ever manage to find me like that?" she laughed happily, shamelessly taking a sip from Liara's drink.

Liara sighed in frustration, resting her head in her hands. "I'm not at the top of my game right now," she groused under her breath.

"True," Kasumi conceded. "You were totally too busy ogling your girlfriend. Can't say I blame you. Though the Cerberus armour is a little unflattering, if you ask me."

Liara shot her a sharp glance, her hand glowing up with a deep, dark blue.

"Okay, okay! No looking at the boss' girlfriend. Gotcha!" Kasumi said, raising her hands in surrender.

Liara shook her head tiredly, her look starting to turn apologetic. "I'm sorry, Kasumi. I'm just under a lot of pressure."

The thief nodded. "How about you let me alleviate some of that pressure, then?" she asked coyly.

Liara felt her cheeks heating up at the other woman's implication. "I don't-"

"I _meant_ letting me help you with that hack," Kasumi added hastily. "Get your mind out of the gutter," she then added with a wink.

Liara was still trying to push her blush down when Kasumi rolled her chair sideways with a simple but effective hip-check, her fingers already deftly flying over her keyboard and her omni-tool bleeping and buzzing at irregular intervals.

Liara glanced at the first screen again quickly, just in time to catch sight of Shepard shooting a varren off of Miranda, who looked like she was about to get her face mauled off. Really, the asari had mixed feelings about that.

Glancing back at Kasumi's screen, she noticed the hooded figure had already cracked the first firewall, humming a happy tune while she continued her work diligently.

The first screen showed Jacob and Shepard teaming up to take down a charging Blood Pack krogan, waving his shotgun about like a sledgehammer.

"They're a strange species, aren't they?" Kasumi laughed, seemingly never taking her eyes off her own screen.

Liara hummed her agreement. "They're more violent than they are intelligent."

Kasumi nodded again. "I think that can be said about most species, though. Krogan, sure. Turians? Absolutely. True for humans as well. Maybe not so much for the hanar and the quarians, though…"

"I suppose you're righ-"

"Done," Kasumi chirped happily, taking a step backwards to admire her handiwork. "Miranda Lawson had some pretty high-grade security. Note the emphasis on _had_."

Liara wavered as she rolled her chair towards the console again. "Kasumi… what did you do?"

"Oh, I didn't do any lasting damage or anything. She won't even notice." The human paused for a moment. "Probably."

Liara sighed as she rolled her eyes – another trait she picked up from Shepard over time – and got to work. It only took her a few minutes to discover that Miranda had not, in fact, been able to get very close in her search for the hacker of Lazarus Station. There was no way Cerberus was going to comb through the entirety of the Terminus Systems.

It appeared Miranda had entirely discarded Liara as a suspect. As far as the Cerberus operative was concerned, she was just a naïve, young asari, dabbling in matters that were too big for her to grasp back on Illium.

Oh, if only she knew…

She quickly downloaded some classified files – she'd see what they were about later – before turning to the first screen again. Shepard and Jacob seemed to be joking around with each other while Miranda was fiddling with her gun. No one seemed to be hurt, so that was something, at least.

"Kasumi, can you… undo what you did?"

The woman tutted slightly, although her fingers were already working their magic. "I'm insulted you even feel the need to ask," she jested, quickly navigating her way out of the Cerberus networks. "There. All done. Like it never even happened."

"You really need to teach me those tricks sometime," Liara said, half-joking.

Kasumi just shrugged. "I'll send you a how-to instruction manual of my own making."

Liara nodded, only listening partially, trying to listen to Shepard as she tried telling two looters to leave the apartments of the deceased alone. She could vaguely hear Kasumi's 'why do I even bother?' on the background.

The situation with the looters resolved peacefully, Liara swivelled her chair around. "I'm sorry, Kasumi, you're…" an empty apartment was all that her eyes found. "… gone?"

The silence – save for the sounds coming from her equipment – was complete, but Liara knew better than to take that as a sign of being alone. She threw three biotic fields in the room, not powerful enough to hurt or damage anything, but they would definitely let her know if Kasumi was actually gone, or just cloaked.

Nothing.

Oh well, she'd just apologize later, Liara thought, already turning back to her equipment again. Now that the issue with Miranda's computer had been resolved, Liara was eager to delve into the extranet and see if she could find some information about Archangel, who would surely be Shepard's next recruit.

The first thing she did was compile a file of her own with the information she already had. She knew Archangel was a turian from the shape of his helmet. A quick perusal of the extranet revealed that he worked with a crew of about ten other vigilantes, but had recently started operating on his own. None of the pages she visited provided an explanation as to why.

Liara, using her access to Aria T'Loak's servers, quickly found a likely reason, though. An abandoned warehouse had recently been the site of a massacre, and the Pirate Queen's men had found the bodies of several heavily armed individuals of various races.

Liara figured they were the remains of Archangel's crew. She added the information to her file before moving on.

Re-watching the videos of Archangel's encounters with Garm, Tarak and the Eclipse convoy revealed several bits of information to the careful observer. Archangel was clearly a strategical mastermind, setting up flawless ambushes, choosing his firing positions with great care, and shooting with great precision.

All of this was noted in the file, as well as Archangel's unquestionable skills with sniper rifles.

She continued her foraging for more information, but after hitting the proverbial jackpot at the start of her search, she found very little new information. She managed to identify several of Archangel's associates – a hacker, an explosives expert, and a former batarian soldier – but never managed to find a lead on Archangel's identity.

She was briefly distracted from her task when Shepard reached Solus' clinic, being welcomed in without any trouble. Listening in on the conversations going on inside proved easy enough. She was surprised to hear Mordin Solus' suspicions about the Collectors being behind the Omega Plague, but she supposed it _was_ a possibility.

It just called into question what they were hoping to achieve. She decided to abandon her relatively fruitless search for Archangel's identity for now, watching as Shepard and her allies pranced off towards the ventilation controls to save an entire zone of Omega.

She had to admit that, looking at Shepard shooting vorcha and krogan, she sort of, maybe, missed being out in the field. If only a little. It brought back memories of fighting off the geth with Shepard, Garrus, Wrex and Tali. The good old times.

"He looks like an interesting fellow," Kasumi's voice suddenly murmured, right behind Liara.

Liara merely stiffened for a moment. "When did you get back in?" she asked warily.

"Get back in? I never left… Oh, and your apologies are accepted," Kasumi smiled smugly.

"But I-"

"Tried to kill me with your biotics. Yes, I noticed. Your second one almost hit me in my tummy. Quite the reckless behaviour," Kasumi finished her sentence, waving her finger disapprovingly. "So… who's he?"

The asari sighed deeply, looking at Shepard again. "I don't know yet. Some vigilante on Omega that Cerberus wants Shepard to recruit."

"That doesn't sound very safe," Kasumi mused out loud.

"Is there anything about this mission that sounds safe?" Liara questioned disbelievingly.

Kasumi merely chuckled. "Well, it looks like shooting krogan and vorcha is quite safe, as long as you remain behind Shepard. I've never seen a human kick a krogan in his face before. It's quite impressive."

* * *

Watching Mordin Solus stepping onto the Normandy was a relief. Shepard had managed to complete her task admirably – not that she had every doubted she would, it was Shepard after all – the the salarian had left the clinic in the hands of his assistant – whom Shepard had also saved along the way, by the by – and joined the Cerberus team to stop the Collector abductions.

While Liara was not entirely certain she trusted the wily old professor, she did know that he was a crucial part of the team. And it wasn't like she didn't have contingencies in place, in case he decided to go off-book.

"Hello?" the voice came over her omni-tool.

"Miss Chambers. I hear the team has a new recruit."

"Now, how would you have discovered that?" Kelly Chambers responded with a fake gasp.

"I need you to have a talk with him, see if he can be trusted."

"Already scheduled for next week," Chambers tried to assure her.

"Make it tomorrow, Miss Chambers. He's the only unknown aboard the Normandy right now."

Chambers was quiet for a while. "Very well. On one condition."

"And what would that be?"

"I need you to answer a question," the voice came from the other side, slightly teasing in tone.

"And what might that be?"

There was a soft chuckle. "Did you really have Engineer Daniels place monitoring equipment in the Commander's bedroom?"

"I am _not_ answering that question!" Liara objected.

"Then I am not re-scheduling my conversation with Dr. Solus."

Liara took a deep breath, releasing it in a shuddering exhale. "Fine," she groused.

"So?"

"Yes. There is some monitoring equipment up there, but only for-"

"I knew it!" Chambers' voice cheered out, cutting Liara off. "I'll let Mordin know to expect me tomorrow, Dr. T'Soni. Pleasure doing business with you."

No sooner had Liara disconnected the call did her omni-tool beep, indicating a call-in-waiting.

When she brought up the screen, she was surprised to find Aria T'Loak smirking back at her. "Enjoyed the show today?" she asked, cocky grin firm in place.

"Very much so, thank you," Liara responded hesitantly, knowing Aria would not call without a very good reason.

"Good," the older asari smiled easily. "Are you alone?"

Liara quickly checked her omni-tool to locate Kasumi, finding her rummaging through a clothing store on the Zakera Ward. "Yes, though I never know how long that lasts."

To her surprise, Aria got up from her couch. "All of you! Out. Now," she ordered, eyes narrowing as her guards and henchmen left Afterlife's VIP lounge.

"What's this about?" Liara asked, intrigued.

"I want to cash in that favour you owe me."

"So soon? Must be pretty important," Liara responded cheekily, taking great pleasure in using Aria's words against her.

"It is," Aria replied, simple and serious.

"Well, what can I do for the illustrious Pirate Queen of Omega? Surely you do not need me for credits or illegal goods? I would imagine you need information on something… or someone?"

A very brief smile flashed across Aria's face. "None of the above, actually. I need protection."

Liara would have laughed, had Aria not looking so utterly serious – and somewhat concerned.

"Aria T'Loak needs _my_ protection?" she asked instead, sounding as incredulous as she felt.

The Pirate Queen shook her head. "No. Someone else does. I can't keep this person safe here on Omega. There are outside players. Players who don't respect my authority like they should. It's vital that this person stays safe. You are on the Citadel now, but you'll return to Illium soon, I imagine. Would you mind looking after this certain someone for a while?"

Liara considered her options for a while. It was odd that Aria was _asking_ instead of demanding. "Is it a criminal?"

Aria chuckled and shook her head. "Never broke a law, as far as I know."

"And from whom will I be protecting this… individual?"

"Not sure yet. But they're well-equipped, well-funded, and worst of all, well-informed."

Liara always prided herself on being able to read other people quite well. Aria was certainly a hard one to read, keeping her emotions behind the façade of arrogance and strength. Right now, however, that façade seemed to be cracking up, showing hints of concern, and fear.

"Very well. I should be able to make the necessary arrangements to keep someone safe in Nos Astra," Liara conceded.

"Thank you," was Aria's heartfelt response.

"Just one more question… Who is it that you need me to protect?"

Aria didn't answer immediately, looking around to see if anyone around her could overhear.

"My daughter."

* * *

 **Okay, quick note and then I'll be out of your hair again. Surely, by know, y'all realize this story isn't exactly canon. At all. Anyhow, I'm still trying to keep as close to canon as possible with the things I want to do. Basically, I took canon and added a whole lot of lesbianism, that's all. As such, Aria's daughter is actually canon - although she only appears in the novels, and not in the games, which kinda sucks a bit. Anyhow, just wanted you to know I didn't make her up or anything. :)**


	9. Angels

So Shepard had found Mordin and convinced him to join her crew in a typical Shepard-fashion: helping the old maniac cure the plague that had been ravaging Omega for weeks now. She was not easily impressed, but even Aria had to admit that the Commander's track record was… impressive.

And now Moklan informed her that the legend had left the new-and-improved Normandy and was on her way to Afterlife again. She probably wanted information on _Archangel_ , Aria figured. She'd have to make haste, though. Against the combined force of the Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack, even Archangel could not hold out for long. Probably…

But, truth be told, Aria would be ecstatic if Shepard could reach the mystery vigilante and remove him from _her_ station. He was a pain in the ass, fighting crime left and right and not taking Aria's interests in account at all.

Besides, while she was loathe to admit it, Archangel was an unknown. She had no idea who he was, where he came from, or what his ultimate goal was. And Aria knew _everything_ that went down on Omega. This stranger was a nuisance, with the possibility of actually becoming a _problem_. If, or when, he set his sights on Aria's operations, there'd be little she could do to stop him.

But she'd let Shepard take care of that problem. Before that, however, there was a little something she had to take care of. Something way more important.

"Anto, get your lazy ass in here!"

The batarian immediately walked up to her couch, like anyone who had been summoned by the Pirate Queen should. "I need you to make some travel arrangements."

"Where-"

"Shut up and listen. It's not for me, but I need you to find me a ship that won't attract too much attention. From anyone. Don't use one of our own, they'd have us figured out before the ship even left Omega. And nothing crewed by batarians or vorcha. Actually, no mercenaries at all. See if you can find some flying salarian science project, or a hanar tourist ship. Maybe a volus merchant who is willing to ignore an extra passenger."

Anto nodded, making notes on his omni-tool.

"Don't give anyone any names, and always work through intermediaries. I need people to _not_ know I am involved in this. I need my passenger to be brought to Irune."

"The volus homeworld?"

Aria grit her teeth. "Do you know any other planet with the same name, Anto?"

Silence was her only response. "I didn't think so. Go make the arrangements."

Anto nodded and turned around, only to be stopped again by Aria before he could get three steps away.

"Oh, and Anto? If you mess this up, I will shoot you, vent you off the station, reel you back in, and feed you to the Varren. Is that understood?"

It was hard to tell with batarians, really, but it looked as if Anto had gotten a few shades paler as he nodded and hastily walked off.

Good, that was step one taken care of. She'd arrange for a new ship to take Liselle from Irune to Illium. Hopefully, that would ensure her daughter would not be followed. And from there, it was all up to Liara T'Soni. She could hardly believe she had been forced to place her trust in someone like _her_ , of all people. Young, innocent, clever, but naïve.

Seeing the familiar red hair of Commander Shepard coming up her stairs, Aria crossed one leg over the other, leaning back and relaxing her posture. After a small nod of her head, the woman took a seat on her couch again. "What do you need now?"

"I'm trying to track down Archangel," Shepard immediately responded, wasting no time on trivial chit-chat. Just how Aria liked it.

"You and half of Omega. You want him dead too?" Aria asked, already knowing the answer.

"Why's everyone after him?"

Long story, Aria thought to herself. She'd keep her answer simple, though. Let Shepard figure things out on her own. "He thinks he's fighting on the side of good. There's no good side on Omega. Everything he does pisses someone off. It's catching up to him."

"Just the kind of guy I'm looking for," Shepard replied easily, smile tugging at her mouth.

"Really? Well aren't you interesting? You're going to make some enemies teaming up with Archangel… That is, assuming you can get to him. He's in a bit of trouble right now."

"What kind of trouble?"

Best not to tell the Commander that she had been tracking the situation diligently, at the behest of her stalker-girlfriend who seemed to be pulling the strings on this entire operation… "The local merc groups have joined forces to take him down. They've got him cornered, but it sounds like they're having trouble finishing him off. They've started hiring anybody with a gun to help them."

"That could be our way in," one of Shepard's teammates murmured. Aria didn't even spare her a glance.

"They're using a private room for recruiting… just over there. I'm sure they'll sign you up."

"What can you tell me about Archangel?"

"Not as much as I'd like," the asari reluctantly admitted. "He showed up here several months ago and started causing all sorts of problems. If you make your own laws – which everyone here does – he makes life difficult. He's reckless and idealistic… But he seems to know enough to stay clear of me."

Shepard just nodded, getting up from the couch. "I appreciate the help."

"See if you still feel that way when the mercs figure out you're here to help him," Aria called after her, watching the soldier and her entourage walk away.

As soon as she was alone again, Aria activated her omni-tool. It immediately brought up an image of a lone asari, sitting on a bed in a small room, reading from a datapad. She still had to figure out who was after Liselle… She'd wait with the full investigation until her daughter was safely off this station… but doing a little bit of digging couldn't do any harm…

* * *

The amazing lack of information on Archangel was starting to become a problem, Liara surmised. How could she possibly keep Shepard safe from this self-proclaimed vigilante if she did not even know who he was?

She had been watching videos on the extranet and Omega's more secure surveillance for hours on end. Some of his tactics and manoeuvres seemed familiar, but Liara could never really pinpoint why. Perhaps they were standard turian military techniques?

Hm, that might actually be something worth checking into.

She had several files on turian military operations on her terminals back on Illium, courtesy of a contact she had in Palaven's central command. Those were useless to her now, though, seeing as they were stored on an individual server she could not access remotely…

Luckily, the extranet featured plenty of vids and analyses, some professional, some clearly made by amateurs. They served her needs, though. Well, not really, Liara supposed, seeing as they only proved that Archangel's tactics were _not_ standard turian military, which meant she still did not know why some of it seemed so familiar.

Her patience was already growing thin from watching Shepard, Jacob and Mordin Solus walking amongst all those trigger-happy mercenaries on Omega, so she really didn't need this to bother her as well. Her surveillance console predictably made sure that she could keep a constant eye on her loved one and her companions, allowing her to use her second console to do some minor chores.

She made sure to disable some of the LOKI mechs Eclipse had stored away. They were easy to hack, especially after the practice she'd gotten from the mechs on the Lazarus Station. Cerberus' security protocols might have been lacking, those of the Eclipse mechs were even worse.

There wasn't much that she could do about the Blood Pack, though. Krogan and vorcha could not be hacked, unfortunately. Had she actually been there, she could have done some serious damage with her biotics, but since that was out of the question, she'd leave _them_ to Shepard. It wasn't like she couldn't take on a few krogan, after all.

That left only one major threat to be dealt with… the Blue Suns had a semi-functional airship that was being fixed up after Archangel had done a serious number on it. Hacking into its systems and messing with the controls would be the most effective way to deal with it… but unfortunately Liara lacked the tech, skill, and knowledge to do that right now. Not to mention _time_ was a bit of an issue as well.

What she _could_ do, however, was distracting the batarian idiot tasked with fixing it. She delved into her standard package of nonsensical messages, selecting one about an illegal improvement-enhancing drug and sending it to Sergeant Cathka.

She was surprised to find that it did not only result in the batarian checking what message he had received. It looked like he was actually _reading_ her spam message with some interest. Liara had planned to just keep spamming his omni-tool with messages, but since he was so interested in this drug that he even opened the link in the message, that didn't really seem necessary right now.

Good. That would allow her to take a closer look at Archangel, his position, and whatever she might do to make Shepard's life easier. And safer…

He was holed up in a building on the other side of a bridge. That bridge was, it seemed, the _only_ way to reach him, making it a strategic spot for Archangel to be defending himself. It also made the whole thing seem an awful lot like a cage, though. The bridge kept the vigilante safe, yes… but it also kept him from escaping.

More importantly, though… it was a kill-zone. Archangel could easily pick off anyone who got too close to the bridge. So far, no one had gotten further than halfway, and corpses were littering the first half of the bridge.

Archangel's omni-tool – if he had one – was too well protected to be of any use. This guy certainly knew what he was doing…

She didn't have a lot to work with right now, she realized as the first mercenaries made their way onto the bridge. She watched a salarian fall off the bridge after a sniper-round had made its way through his head, just as Shepard hopped over the barricade and started running.

From the one camera inside the building, she could see Archangel taking aim. In a last-ditch effort to distract him, Liara used one of her newest acquisitions to turn on the screen behind the vigilante, which immediately started displaying one of the local news broadcasts.

Liara was not really surprised to find that Archangel didn't even so much as flinch at the sudden sound behind him. Within a second, he had apparently realized that it was meant to distract him. He still had his rifle primed and ready to take the shot… But for some reason, he didn't, instead swerving the rifle to the left.

Liara watched in amazement as Archangel – the expert marksman – fired a round into the pavement of the bridge, almost a full feet next to a batarian that was running across the length of the structure. Hardly a second later, she realized that he hadn't _missed_. He had just aimed for something different than she expected.

The batarian in question jumped sideways, away from the shot. Archangel immediately made his next move, firing another shot that blew through the head of a human merc, tore through the throat of the salarian behind him, and then impaled the chest of the batarian, who had jumped into his line of fire mere moments ago.

 _That_ move, Liara would never forget. She'd only seen it once before, and she still remembered being in awe at the shooter… She had been levitating several geth with her singularity, using her pistol to pick them off one by one… And _he_ had just lined up three geth like it was a game, taking them all out at the same time…

Just to make sure, Liara pulled up the footage of the Battle of the Citadel. Within a minute, she'd found the footage she had been looking for and confirmed her suspicions… "It can't be…"

But of course it could be. By the Goddess, it should not even have come as a surprise. Of course he had not returned to C-Sec, already having been fed up with the bureaucracy and red tape years ago… It made perfect sense for him to have taken matters in his own hands, and have gone to the one place where there was never a shortage of criminals… Omega.

Liara returned her attention to her Omega-surveillance just in time to watch Shepard approach Archangel, who took one final shot before setting his sniper rifle down and turning around. He made himself at ease, sitting down before he removed his helmet and revealed to Shepard what Liara herself had only _just_ figured out.

Garrus Vakarian was Archangel.

* * *

Calibrations.

If he just focused on his calibrations, he wouldn't feel the pain in his face.

If he just focused on his calibrations, he wouldn't feel the pain in his _everywhere_.

Maybe.

 _Spirits_ , the airship had done him in. He couldn't remember the last time his body had ached like this. It was a miracle that doctor Chakwas had even been able to patch him up again. And Garrus was sure that, had Shepard brought anyone else on board the Normandy, they'd have considered his poor turian body a lost cause.

Not Chakwas, though. That woman was a miracle worker. Almost as impressive as Shepard.

There was something about these humans…

If he just focused on his calibrations, he wouldn't have to think about how _strange_ all of this was.

Being back aboard the Normandy. Of course, it wasn't _really_ the Normandy, because Collectors had blown that ship to bits and pieces. Still, it looked and felt like the Normandy. It sort of acted like the Normandy too. This gun needed more calibrating…

And then there were the familiar faces. Even though they were with _Cerberus_ now, it felt like old times. Joker at the helm, Chakwas in the med-bay, and Shepard all over the place, doing the impossible. Before breakfast, on most days…

If he just focused on his calibrations, whoever was knocking on the door would surely leave him in peace. He'd been shot up by a mercenary airship, drilled in Cerberus protocols by Miranda Lawson when he woke up in the med-bay, and then mangled by Yeoman Chambers, who insisted on a psych-evaluation _immediately_.

"Garrus, it's me, Joker," a familiar voice sounded from behind the door. "Are those new scars of yours so bad you can't even come face to face with me? Because, you know, everyone's talking about it."

Garrus chuckled as he opened the door for his long-time friend. "Good to see you again, Joker. Judge for yourself."

The pilot walked in, taking a close look at the turian's face. "Huh, Shep was right. Hardly see the difference…"

"Flatterer," Garrus laughed, patting Joker on the back. "Now, what brings you to my remote and quiet corner of the ship?"

"Right," Joker suddenly murmured, pulling out a datapad. "Are you there?"

"I'm right here?" Garrus answered hesitantly.

"Not you," Joker murmured without looking up from the datapad. "Ah, good. Yeah, he's here. Alright, here you go," Joker continued, before handing the datapad to Garrus.

He took the device into his hands, but had to blink a few times when he looked down at the screen. "Liara?"

"Hello Garrus," the asari smiled easily from an office somewhere far away. "I'm glad to see you're doing well."

"You have a liberal definition of the concept of 'doing well' Liara," Garrus groused. "Don't you live on Illium nowadays? What are you doing on this top-secret datapad?"

The asari nodded slowly. "That's correct. But I'm sure you understand that, when I discovered Cerberus was bringing Shepard back, I wasn't just going to sit on the sidelines…"

"Well, you two were _pretty_ close," Garrus grinned, before wincing and rubbing a talon over his stitches. Despite the pain, he smiled at Liara's blushing face. She really was too easy to tease.

"I've set up a small information network aboard the Normandy to keep Shepard safe," Liara spoke after a few silent seconds. "Joker is obviously in on it, but as far as Cerberus is concerned, I have no idea that Shepard is even alive. It's probably best to keep it that way for now. Lest they find out I hacked their secure channels and bought off some of their crew…"

"Right. Well, I'm here for Shepard, not Cerberus, so they won't hear it from me."

"I know," the asari replied flatly, giving a simple shrug. "That's why I didn't have any doubts about contacting you. I need you to promise me that you will keep her safe, Garrus."

He laughed again. "I think you and I both know that Shepard will be keeping _me_ safe, not the other way around…"

"Promise me, Garrus," Liara said sternly, clearly not in the mood for jokes. Garrus understood, though. Liara and Shepard had always shared a special something, ever since they rescued her from Therum. Everyone aboard the Normandy had noticed at some point. It had also not been a secret that Liara had 'snuck' into Shepard's room before they went to Ilos…

"I'll do what I can, Liara."

The asari heaved a deep sigh, looking away from the screen for a moment. "Thank you, Garrus. I don't trust Cerberus to keep her safe… It's good to know she has a friend aboard the ship."

"Hey, she had me!" Joker interjected immediately.

"A friend who can _fight_ ," Liara amended with a soft laugh.

"Well, that's hurtful," Joker muttered, crossing his arms and leaning against the railing.

"So, Garrus," Liara continued. "What did you say the name of the traitor in your team on Omega was?"

"I didn't," Garrus responded suspiciously. "Have you been spying on me?"

"Yes," Liara replied, simple and immediate. "I spy on everyone aboard the Normandy. But it's for Shepard's safety, so it's alright."

"Sure, T'Soni. Keep telling yourself that…"

"The name, Garrus," she insisted.

"Sidonis. Lantar Sidonis."

"Right. I'll see if I can find him," Liara mused out loud, attention already divided between her different screens. "I'll be in touch soon, Garrus."

As soon as the connection was ended, Garrus looked up at Joker.

"So, if I understand this correctly, we're all just pieces in a big chess game, right?"

Joker's silence spoke volumes…


	10. Better Times

Shepard read the message she just received for the third time, wondering whether there had been some sort of miscommunication or mistake involved in sending it. It was great that Aria T'Loak was thanking her for sending over the information on the mercenary groups that were planning to make a move on her operations. Truly awesome.

Only… she hadn't sent that information. Aria seemed to be under the impression she had, and Miranda had only looked at her suspiciously when Shepard had asked if she'd had anything to do with it, before muttering something about 'taking care of business' and walking off.

Which left Shepard with the decision on how to respond to Aria. Go along with the farce, with the risk of being found out later, or just fess up? Perhaps, she wondered, the best response would be no response at all…

Yeah, that was definitely the way to go.

"Commander?"

Shepard swivelled around, coming face to face with Karen Chakwas. "Doctor? Is the med-bay to your satisfaction? Do we need to-"

"No, no. The med-bay is quite fine," Chakwas interrupted. "Cerberus might have a shady side, but they do know a thing or two about stocking up medical supplies. I was wondering if you have a moment?"

"Of course. We have a day or two before we arrive at the Citadel," Shepard responded tersely as they walked into the med-bay. "Apparently, the Council wants to talk to me."

"That… should be interesting," Chakwas murmured hesitantly. "I was planning to extend an offer to share that bottle of brandy you brought me, but perhaps that would be better suited for after that meeting?"

"No, actually… Now's a good time, doctor. If the meeting with the Council goes so poorly I need a drink after, I'll buy us another bottle at the Citadel."

"Can't really argue with your logic, Commander," the doctor chuckled as she opened the drawer of her desk and pulled out the bottle of brandy. "I always regretted not opening this bottle when I still could. Let's not make that mistake this time."

Once they were both seated with a well-filled glass of Serrice Ice Brandy, Chakwas took a deep breath. "So…" she started, letting the ensuing silence linger for several seconds. "How are you feeling?"

Shepard chuckled grimly. "Still a little sore from that encounter with the Blood Pack Chief, back on Omega."

"Bruised ribs take some time to heal, Commander," Chakwas chided lightly. "But that's not what I meant. Not really."

Shepard tilted her head sideways, eyes inquisitive, but mouth unmoving.

"It must be strange for you," Chakwas elaborated. "Being back from the dead, everyone's lives having moved on for two whole years, having missed so much. Now, being back on the Normandy, straight back into the action… I imagine you must feel like your whole world has been ripped away from you, only to be replaced by some warped version of reality…"

Shepard's brows knitted together for a moment as she pursed her lips in contemplation. "I suppose you could say that…" she allowed, before shaking her head slightly. "Having familiar faces around, like you and Joker, helps a lot, though. It keeps me grounded."

"What about Garrus?" Chakwas asked with a smile, taking a sip from her drink.

"Oh, God," Shepard laughed freely. "I can't tell you how good it is to have him back aboard."

"I think I can imagine," Chakwas laughed in return, immediately sobering as Shepard's face contorted into a contemplative frown again.

"I just wish I knew how the others were doing…"

"Joker mentioned you ran into Tali on Freedom's Progress?"

"Yeah," Shepard replied with a distant look in her eyes. "She seemed well… I wanted her to join us, but she was on a mission for the Migrant Fleet. I guess times really have changed… Tali leading a quarian squad on a top-secret mission…"

"At least you know she's doing okay," Chakwas comforted weakly.

"That's more than I can say about Wrex, or Ashley."

"Ashley is doing well too," Chakwas informed the Commander, having been privy to her medical records up until the point she decided to 'join' Cerberus. "As for Wrex… Well, I think it's safe to say he can take care of himself."

"Isn't that the truth?" Shepard chuckled. "Know who I miss the most, though?"

"Liara, of course," Chakwas responded without any delay or hesitation, briefly looking up at the security camera hanging in the corner. "As you're well aware, the bond between the two of you was hardly a secret, even back then."

"Right. I was surprised to find everyone being aware of our… involvement…"

"Liara was not nearly as stealthy as she believed herself to be when she made her way to your cabin, that night…" Chakwas confided, filling Shepard's glass again.

"The Illusive Man told me she works for the Shadow Broker nowadays," the Commander murmured, sounding troubled and disappointed.

Chakwas pursed her lips, considering how much she could safely confide in Shepard, and quickly making a decision. "I know a lie when I hear one, Commander Shepard. You and I both know that Liara T'Soni's morals would never allow her to stoop to such a dastardly level."

"I want to believe that, but if the Illusive Man has proof of-"

"Did he _show_ you any evidence of Liara's alleged involvement with the Shadow Broker?" Chakwas interrupted.

"Well, no, but why would he lie?" Shepard countered, slightly taken aback by the determination in Chakwas' tone.

"Because he's the leader of a galaxy-wide shadow organization, Commander. _Lying_ is what he _does_. You, of all people, should know to trust in yourself and your friends, rather than trusting a man who will never tell you the entire truth."

"You're right," Shepard decided with a firm nod of her head. "I don't know what I was thinking…"

Chakwas smiled sadly. "I imagine that is to be expected, under the current circumstances… There is a lot of confusing and inexplicable stuff going on, after all."

Shepard nodded, but remained silent for several minutes, occasionally sipping from the brandy. "Someone sent me a model of the _Destiny Ascension_ ," she suddenly blurted.

"The asari flagship?" Chakwas asked, before rolling her eyes at herself. "Never mind, don't answer that. Was that what was in the package the Arcturian Jade delivered?"

"Yeah…"

"Did it name a sender?"

"No. The captain just thanked me for using 'Goto Deliveries.' Even he didn't know where the package originated, though…"

Chakwas wasn't entirely certain what to respond to that, but Shepard continued talking before she could put any thought into it.

"It reminded me of Liara… And, well… I've been thinking about her a lot, lately. Where she is, what she's doing… If she misses me, or doesn't even spare me a thought anymore…"

"I'm sure Liara still misses you dearly-"

"It's been two years!" Shepard objected. "You can't know that, can you? She might have moved on… I mean, we were only together for such a short period… For all I know she's living on Thessia, with a hot asari lover and a dozen or so children!"

"I think your worries are taking you for a run, Commander. Not even an asari can bear that many children in only two years. And while it's true you weren't together for very long, that does nothing to diminish or belittle your feelings for each other… I know for a fact that Liara was distraught when we lost you. The loss of someone so close to you… it's not something you move past without difficulty."

"God," Shepard groaned. "I want to believe that so badly… I'm just not sure if I can."

* * *

"EDI!" Miranda barked out, sitting in her office.

"Yes, Operator Lawson?" the synthetic voice responded immediately.

"I have reason to believe the security of the Normandy might have been compromised. I need you to run a full evaluation."

"Very well… It appears our security has not been compromised."

"Run it again," Miranda ordered, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"As you wish… It appears our security still has not been compromised."

"Then how did the Arcturian Jade locate us?" Miranda asked, exasperation seeping into her speech.

EDI was quiet for several long seconds, before eventually responding. "I do not know. Our stealth drive is fully operational. Our extranet connection is secure. All our outgoing communications have been scrambled and encrypted. We are undetectable."

"Apparently not," Miranda muttered to herself, not paying EDI any more attention. She typed out a quick message to the Illusive Man, updating him of their progress and informing him of their run-in with the civilian ship.

Someone was meddling in her operation, and Miranda didn't like it one bit. At this point in time, the most logical suspects were either the Shadow Broker, or Aria T'Loak… If only the Commander wouldn't be so stubborn and just tell her what had been in the package, Miranda might have been able to use it as some sort of clue to backtrack its origin.

Then again, it really didn't matter. They would arrive at the Citadel soon enough, where they were to meet up with Kasumi Goto, the most talented thief in the galaxy. Since she had, somehow, been involved in the sending of the package, Miranda would simply squeeze her for information.

And then she'd finally eliminate the threat to their mission, no matter the cost.

For now, however, there was a more pressing matter. Using her omni-tool's secure connection, she contacted one of her many contacts throughout the galaxy, sighing as she waited for the connection to go through.

"Lawson," a female voice greeted her when the connection was established. "About time you made contact."

"Lanteia," Miranda greeted in return. "What's the situation?"

"She's in no immediate danger, but you should look into a new hideaway. Your father's men are working around the clock, and they'll find Oriana before long."

"I'm working on it," Miranda groused back, grinding her teeth. "Can you slow them down?"

"I'll see what I can do," Lanteia laughed darkly. "Just make sure you hurry up."

"Roger that, Lanteia. And thanks."

* * *

Sitting in a parked skycar, Liara tried to tune out the noises around her as she focused on the datapad resting in her lap. Knowing she'd have to erase the information on it as soon as possible, and preferably destroy the datapad as well, just to be sure, it was crucial for her to take in all the information Aria had provided.

It was still a strange thought for Liara. Somehow, she'd never imagined Aria as the type to have children with anyone. Yet, here she was, reading up on Aria T'Loak's daughter, and her soon-to-be protégée. _Liselle_.

The asari was only a decade younger than Liara herself, meaning that it was a fairly recent development in Aria's life – at least according to asari standards. There were several pictures, as well as some information about Liselle's education, health, and acquaintances. Oddly enough, there was no information on her parentage, besides the information Aria had already given her before.

Still, she was fairly certain that she knew who Liselle's other parent was. While she had never intentionally investigated Aria, her profession as an information broker made it almost impossible not to pick up on rumors every now and again.

With a soft sigh, Liara turned her attention back to the docking bay in front of her. The Normandy SR-2 could arrive there at any moment, and Liara would not let this chance to see Shepard go by. Of course, she'd make sure that Shepard would not see _her_. The time wasn't quite right for that yet. Unfortunately…

She just hoped the ship would dock soon. It was hard to decide which reason weighed stronger: seeing Shepard, or Kasumi's stupid commercial cone finally going silent. The thief had programmed it to repeatedly call out for Commander Shepard, effectively catching the attention of random pedestrians, as well as C-Sec, and undermining any secrecy they had going.

Goddess, it was hard to imagine her as the great master thief she was…

With still no sign of the Normandy, Liara decided she had time to make a final, quick call in preparation of Shepard's arrival on the Citadel. It took mere seconds for the connection to be established.

"Counselor Tevos," the gruff but feminine voice came over her omni-tool.

"Ah, Counselor, I'm glad I caught you in time before your meeting with the other members of the Council."

"Dr. T'Soni," Tevos responded without any trace of surprise. "That meeting is supposed to be a secret."

"There's no such thing as a secret on the Citadel, Counselor. I imagine you would know that by now."

"Very well. What can I do for you?"

Liara really hoped her hunch was correct. Otherwise, this conversation would end in a great heap of embarrassment. "I just thought you might want to know that Aria T'Loak has entrusted the safety of her daughter to me…"

Their connection remained silent for nearly a full minute before Tevos responded. "I'm afraid I fail to see how that is any of my business," she responded coolly.

As soon as she heard the words, Liara knew that her suspicions – and the rumors – had been correct. "I have a whole list of reasons as to why it might be your business, Counselor. I suppose I could send it to you, when I arrive back on Illium, if you'd want?"

"That… won't be necessary, Dr. T'Soni."

Liara merely hummed in agreement, eyes fixed on the slowly enlarging blip in the sky.

"If there is anything I can do to… make your task easier, do let me know."

"Actually," Liara piped up with a faint smile as she watched the Normandy pulling into the docking bay, "if it is not too much to ask, I would like the Council to reinstate Commander Allison Shepard as a Spectre."

"And how would that help you?" Tevos countered easily.

"It'd make me feel a lot more secure," Liara responded in her most innocent tone of voice. "Besides, we both know it would not be more than a formality, since the Council has no jurisdiction in the Terminus Systems."

The young asari could hear the Matriarch sighing on the other end of the line. "Very well, Dr. T'Soni. I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Shepard faintly shook her head as she, Miranda and Garrus made their way back aboard the Normandy. She would be a liar if she were to claim not having dreaded the meeting with the Citadel Council… but they had been oddly accommodating.

It had been good to see Anderson again, who, even after two years, hadn't changed a bit. He was still a man weary of politics, though it seemed he had managed to become a more-than-decent Councelor to represent humankind.

That had not been the biggest surprise, though. The asari Counselor had offered to reinstate Shepard's status as a Spectre. Anderson had readily agreed, and the two of them had won the ensuing argument with the turian and salarian Counselors.

Even though it was merely a formality, and the Council would not _actually_ be lending support, it meant a great deal to Shepard. She had effectively made the step from common criminal to independent government operative – which might just make the difference when it came down to it.

"Commander," Miranda started in her no-nonsense tone of voice, "we should go and have a little chat with our newest recruit."

Even though she was tempted to disagree just for the sake of disagreeing, Shepard nodded. "EDI?"

"Miss Goto has taken up residence in the Port Observation," EDI's synthetic voice immediately sounded.

"The bar?" Miranda frowned. "That's an odd place to bunk."

Not paying anyone any attention, Miranda least of all, Shepard marched into the elevator. Sure enough, she found Kasumi stretched out on a couch in the Port Observation Deck, reading an old-fashioned novel, made out of _paper_.

"Hello, Commander," she chirped happily, placing the book aside. "And Miranda."

"That's Operator Lawson," Miranda corrected haughtily. "And we have some questions for you."

"O-kay. Shoot," Kasumi smiled, not at all intimidated.

Before Shepard could ask for more information regarding the 'favor' Kasumi had asked of her, Miranda butted in with a question of her own.

"Did you or did you not send a package to this ship via the Arcturian Jade?"

The hooded figure turned her head towards the ceiling, manicured finger tapping against her chin. "Hm, let's see… Oh, that's right! Yes, I did."

"How did you find us?" Miranda immediately continued.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that. My sources would be terribly unamused if I betrayed their trust."

In the blink of an eye, Miranda had dashed forward, grabbing Kasumi's shoulders, pulling her up, and pressing her to the wall with a loud thud. "How did you find us, and for who do you work!?" she yelled angrily.

"Miranda!" Shepard yelled even louder, firmly yanking the Cerberus operative backwards, away from the thief. "Let's not get carried away here. Whoever sent that package didn't mean us any harm, or they'd already have done it."

"Oh," Kasumi chirped, now leisurely leaning up against the wall, "I'm _very_ certain my employer doesn't mean _you_ any harm. You, on the other hand," she continued, gesturing towards Miranda. "Are not that popular."

"How dare you-"

"Still, you owe your life to my employer… Or so I was lead to believe. You see, it was pretty obvious you'd want to interrogate me, so my employer told me to remind you of something called 'Lazarus Station.'"

With an angry huff, Miranda turned around and stormed out of the Observation Deck, undoubtedly making her way to her office. With an amused expression, Shepard turned back towards Kasumi. "Please, have a seat… We have a lot to talk about."


	11. Mischief

Miranda frowned, glare boring into the steel in front of her. With a deep sigh, she turned her head a little upwards. "EDI, why isn't this door opening?"

EDI's synthetic voice responded immediately. "Commander Shepard has locked it, and specified that no one but herself is supposed to enter the Captain's Quarters."

"Initiate override protocol seven-fifty-two," Miranda barked harshly.

Contrary to the earlier response, EDI took her time before the reply came. "I'm afraid I cannot do that."

Miranda's eyes widened a fraction. "What? Why?"

"I… am not certain."

"Very well. EDI, let's run a simulation and disengage all locks aboard the Normandy."

"I do not control the remains of the Normandy, Operator Lawson," EDI's voice chimed.

"The Normandy SR-2, EDI," Miranda sighed exasperatedly.

"Of course, Operator Lawson." A short beat of silence and EDI spoke again. "All locks disengaged."

"Why won't this door open?!" Miranda practically bellowed.

"Commander Shepard specified that no one but-"

"Yeah, yeah…" Miranda interrupted. "I need you to open this door so I can resolve the emergency on the other side."

"… I have been programmed to detect falsehoods, Operator Lawson."

"Fine. Run a diagnostic and see why the override protocol can't be performed," Miranda sighed eventually. If only she could get in there, she could figure out what Shepard had received in the mystery package, and then she might be able to trace the sender.

"It appears Miss Goto has made an alteration to my system," EDI told her after a few moments. "Operator Lawson no longer has access to override protocols."

"Reverse her alterations," Miranda responded promptly, smiling to herself. Not many people knew EDI had the ability to tinker with her own code – within reason, of course.

"I do not have the necessary authorization to do so," EDI countered immediately.

"According to whom?"

"… Miss Goto."

"Damnit!"

* * *

Shepard walked around the Zakera Ward, idly killing time while her crew was re-stocking the ship. The initial plan had been to do so on Omega, but after everything that had happened there, everyone had decided that making a quick getaway would be the wisest course of action.

All-out gang wars, plagues, exploding gunships… Those weren't quite 'normal' even on Omega. While almost everything was possible – and acceptable – on the space station, even Omega would need some time to accept and forget that.

At least a day or two, Shepard figured with an idle shrug.

"I can't believe these humans. No-fly-list? What have they turned this place into?"

Shepard's ears were tuned in to the conversation between the two asari the moment she picked up the word 'human.' Having nothing better to do, she broke her stride and turned towards them. She was, after all, a Spectre.

"I overheard you talking. Having a problem?" she asked, trying to sound professional and somewhat friendly at the same time.

"It's a private matter," one of the asari immediately threw back at her, contempt clear on her face.

"Give me a chance," Shepard implored, not one to give up easily. "I might be able to help."

"I don't see why you would. Since your kind gained a seat on the Council, They've taken over C-Sec Customs. There are hundreds of new security checks and travel restrictions. We've been flagged as potential risk for geth infiltration. They won't let us board a ship back to asari space."

"Why would they consider you a risk? You're obviously not geth," Shepard asked, genuinely befuddled by the logic of the matter.

"I don't know! They wouldn't tell us! We got on a list somewhere, for some reason, and they won't tell us anything because 'it's classified'!"

"Who won't let you board a ship?" Shepard asked, fully intending to get to the bottom of this now.

"I don't know who made the decision," the asari responded as if Shepard were stupid for just asking the question. "Some pencil-pusher at the shuttle port told us. The one outside the C-Sec station?"

Shepard nodded to herself. "I'll see if I can get it sorted out."

"I'm not holding my breath," the asari muttered dismissively.

"Of course you aren't," Shepard muttered wryly to herself as she stomped away. For a moment, she thought she heard something right behind her, but she dismissed it quickly.

Everyone got out of her way as she marched towards the C-Sec station, finding the attendant airily staring off in the distance until she cleared her throat.

"Can I help you, ma'am?" the woman asked professionally.

"I talked to a couple of asari. They say Customs won't let them leave the station, but they weren't told why. Can you help me out?"

"I'm sorry, but all matters related to station security are classified," the woman responded hastily. "We can't risk geth infiltration. Revealing why someone is on a watchlist might compromise the security of C-Sec's undercover agents."

"Did you talk to them?" Shepard asked a little more forcefully than intended. "Did they seem like geth agents to you?"

The woman hesitated for a moment. "Well, no. But you can never be sure!"

"Look miss, I've fought hundreds of geth. I can assure you that those two are not geth infiltrators. The lack of flashlight heads was kind of a giveaway."

"I'm not saying it makes any sense!" the woman responded, now annoyed more than professional. "Those are the rules I have to enforce. I can't get them cleared, but I can flag the case file for review. That will allow them to travel in the meantime."

"Thanks for your help," Shepard said with a smile, already walking off. She had no trouble finding the asari, who hadn't moved from their couch.

"Good news," she smiled. "I convinced them to let you go."

"You what? How did you do that?" the asari asked as she got up from the couch.

"I explained how their methods are flawed. I've fought a lot of geth in my time."

"Few have," the asari responded, clearly not recognizing her. "How unexpected. We should get ready to leave. There should be another ship heading for Thessia tomorrow."

As she watched them walking off, Shepard almost gave in to the ridiculous urge to ask the two asari about Liara T'Soni. Assuming all asari knew each other was as ridiculous as assuming all humans knew each other, and Shepard had no wish to come off as a fool.

"Look at you, boss, saving the galaxy one miscommunication at a time," a voice suddenly spoke right by her ear.

"Hello, Kasumi," Shepard smiled, not startled in the slightest.

"Ah, boo!" the woman pouted as she de-activated her cloaking mechanism. "My employer's responses were much more amusing."

"Speaking of your employer," Shepard piped up. "I imagine you're about ready to tell me who they are by now?"

"As opposed to last night?" Kasumi chuckled. "Small chance. I am willing to tell you something useful, though."

"I'm all ears, Goto," Shepard groused.

"Miranda is trying to break into your quarters."

"How is that useful?" Shepard asked, half-amused, half-annoyed. "And what do you mean, trying to break in?"

"Well, you know… It gives you a reason to vent her into space or something."

"I know from experience that even Miranda doesn't deserve that," Shepard chuckled darkly.

"As for your other question," Kasumi continued cheerfully. "She's trying to gain access, but is faced by a very uncooperative door."

Shepard managed to urge the master thief on with a single sideward glance.

"I may or may not have tinkered with the protocols regarding that specific door. Miranda thinks she can back-trace my package delivery to you. I don't think she can… but I'd rather not put it to the test. Soo… I made some modifications."

"Modifications to what?"

"EDI, of course," Kasumi laughed heartily. Before Shepard could scold her about it, though, she continued talking. "But that's not important. I came here to talk to you about a little errand we need to run on Bekenstein, over in the Boltzmann System? It's not far from here, really."

"Does this have anything to do with the fact that my ship has a giant golden Saren statue in the cargo hold?"

"Yup," Kasumi chimed happily, folding her arms behind her head as she walked. "And we're going to have a lot of fun with it!"

* * *

At first, it had been kind of nice to just sit here and watch the thousands of stars pass them by. Relaxing. Meditative, even. But after having arrived on Irune, she had been told to get off the ship, and onto a Turian cruiser that appeared to be taking her in the exact opposite direction from which she had come earlier.

The turians mostly left her alone, and stars were starting to become a bore by now. If you'd seen ten, you'd seen a million, Liselle figured. For the umpteenth time, she cursed her father for sending her away on this ridiculous journey.

Aria had just come striding into her room that morning, told her to pack a bag with the bare necessities and get on that stupid Volus merchant ship. No reason, no explanation. Not even a _destination_. If her calculations were correct, they weren't on a course towards Omega, so it appeared she wasn't going back home.

In fact, it appeared they were headed for asari space. Liselle dropped her head against the wall, silently praying to the Goddess that they weren't headed for Thessia. If there was any planet that was inhabited solely by stuck-up, posh, air-headed people, it was Thessia.

* * *

"Ridiculous," the raven-haired woman seethed to herself as she stomped away, leaving a fearful Joker behind at the helm, dismissing Yeoman Chambers with a single glare, and stepping in the elevator with the salarian doctor.

"Something the matter, Miss Lawson?" he asked in his usual rushed tone. "If it's something physical, I'm certain I can help. Migraine? Stress? Bowel movements?"

With a snap, she turned her head around to face him, glare still in full force.

"I see. You wish for me not to speak of your bowel movements. Consider it noted," the salarian continued, apparently entirely unimpressed.

Miranda realized this had to be the worst crew she had ever worked with. If only she could go and replace some of them… Starting with Shepard, preferably.

"EDI, where is Shepard?" she barked as the elevator doors slid open and Mordin stepped out, cheerfully humming a tune.

"Commander Shepard is currently visiting Miss Goto in her quarters."

"Just perfect," she muttered under her breath. "Of course she is."

Not taking the time to announce her presence, Miranda barged into Kasumi's claimed quarters, finding the two women sitting on the couch, chatting amiably as if they had been friends for years. "Commander Shepard! Care to tell me what the hell you are doing!?"

"I'm just sitting here," Shepard replied drolly. "Why?"

"Joker just told me you plotted a course for _Bekenstein_?!"

To her immense surprise, Shepard actually sported a grin now. "So, did he figure out in what system he needs to look yet?"

"Actually," EDI suddenly piped up, "Mr. Moreau asked me to locate Bekenstein, and we are currently headed towards the Boltzmann System."

"Well, that's a shame," Shepard muttered dejectedly. "Don't tell him next time, EDI."

"Of course, Commander," EDI responded automatically.

No one noticed the red shade of Miranda's face, or the bulging vein in her forehead.

"What is the fucking meaning of this?" she suddenly yelled, stomping her foot down like an insolent toddler.

"Jesus, calm down Miranda," Shepard ventured, waving her hand in a dismissive motion.

"What the hell is there on Bekenstein?"

"A party!" Kasumi cheered with a cheshire grin.

"… A party?"

"We need to run a little errand for Kasumi," Shepard explained. "It's important, and we're sort of close now anyway.

"Run a little errand?" Miranda repeated with venom in her voice. "Are you at all aware of the fact that we are trying to save the galaxy?"

"Oddly enough," Shepard responded with narrowed eyes, "I did actually manage to pick up on that little detail. But this is import for Kasumi, and I need her to be at her best. I can't have her being distracted by something like this."

"I have to object, Commander," Miranda responded after several calming breaths. "We simply don't have time for this."

"Good thing I'm the Commander," Shepard smiled without a trace of humour. "I think that means I decide where we go, what we do, and when we do it. Or isn't that how things work at Cerberus?"

Miranda decided not to answer the rhetorical question, instead turning around and stomping off, only to be stopped before she could leave the room.

"Oh, and Miranda? Don't ever try to break into my quarters again."


End file.
